The End Game
by Time Phoenix
Summary: After Alfred finds an artefact that is infecting his body and could bring about the apocalypse it's up to Francis, Arthur and a host of other nations to save him,  but as the clock ticks, it becomes clear that Arthur has a sinister history with the item
1. Chapter 1

_There was nothing particularly dangerous about Alfred Jones's latest expedition. That is, until he accidentally became involved in a chain of events that would signal the destruction of the world itself. It began (as these things tend to do) in the most innocent and well meaning ways. How do I know this you're asking? Well… I'm his brother, Matthew or I suppose you might call me Canada I'm not too bothered about names really, just don't mix the two of us (I mean me and Alfred/ America) up… or else… yeah, it's unpleasant for us all_

… _I'm going to impart this story on to you all as a warning… to make sure you never become too engrossed with something you were never meant to have._

_Now don't pretend you're clueless what I'm talking about… it's like when you do something you know you shouldn't… only to do the same thing the next day and the day after…and so on… but maybe this story will make you stop and think…maybe you should leave your indulgent pleasure be… Now because I'm in the story… I'm going read it from I book I wrote not so long ago… so don't get think that I'm being facetious when I refer to myself in the third person okay? _

It was a delightfully hazy spring. Alfred Jones, who you also know to be The United States of America, had recently received a letter from an anonymous sender about a mysterious antique collector who had recently been acquiring items of great interest, some items that were literally priceless because they were so rare… but then others that had little worth what so ever, yet he always bought these items under the same mysterious alias… X, simply an X… no 'Mister' no 'san' no 'Frau'... just 'X'.

The items that were bought usually had no connection what so ever, or rather there was certainly no link between them that was decipherable. This wouldn't be unusual in itself… except for the fact that this buyer had been on the floor of auctions all over the world for over 300 years… Was it a family passing down the name 'X?', was it an organisation? Alfred didn't know but he was determined to find out and thus came to the conclusion that he would definitely be having a fun filled summer and would be like a 'P.I' and solve the case.

The more Alfred researched about the mystery 'X' buyer, the more cryptic the puzzle became. For example, this buyer was inclined to let items go up for sale to the floor… even though he would match and beat the asking prices and bids… rather than buy them in advance from the dealer… It was as if this buyer was suspicious that they were being watched, or was paranoid about being discovered.

So what does a young American like Alfred Jones do in this situation?...

Alfred Jones, being a man of many means, but of little finesse, decided to call non-other than Francis Bonnefoy, indeed the living embodiment of France. He explained the project in full, trying to sell it's potential intrigue and mystery. At first the European seemed less than impressed.

"So… let me make sure I 'ave everything clear… you want to make a film… about this mysterious collector?" Francis sounded less than enthused as he patted off the ash of his cigarette out of the window of his office, well office would be an overly formal word. It was more a place where Francis would spend most of his time, but it was a little too informal and comfortable to be an office… bearing in mind their was a chez longue in there… for whatever ever reason…

Francis was a tall and slender man, with shoulder length blonde hair which effortless fell into place perfectly for the most part. He oozed class the vast majority of the time (Sometimes he had very little dignity at all… but those days were behind him… well at least he liked to think so). Always fashionable and never dull, he was a man of high culture and excellent taste and well known for loving anything beautiful and exquisite (_anything… _living or not), and also being extremely temperamental. One day he may be positively gentle and kind, the next obnoxious, he also had an ever present French lilt in his voice, which he simply could not hide, but knowing Francis… he probably didn't want to.

"A documentary… or maybe a mockumentary… I haven't decided yet!" Alfred said. "But… I figured it might need a bit of… that… I don't know… European art house style… to make it cool… otherwise Arthur's going to totally slam it when it comes to reviews… and you know… you are France… you ooze with charisma… and I know you have a passion for making gorgeous things? I give you permission to go wild! Be as avante garde as you like! I just want to make this film about this mysterious collector!" Alfred knew that stroking Francis' ego was an extremely effective method of persuasion.

Alfred Jones was a young and upbeat man, full of fun and joy of life. He had sandy short hair which was easy for him to maintain and wore spectacles (that he needed desperately; he was practically blind without them). He often delighted in helping others and trying new things (although most of the time his dabbling wasn't welcome). He was particularly bad at reading the atmosphere and using his better judgement. But all in all, he was a good person, who was trying to help everyone… he just had a tendency to get things wrong sometimes.

"Ah well… with smooth talking like that mon ami…how can I refuse?" Francis added jovially, liking the sound of Alfred's proposal. "So… if I agree… where are we filming this… petite project?"

"Well… that's the best part…" Alfred smiled, knowing that this comment would be the one to persuade Francis into taking part. "…London-"

So several days later… The two met up in London, for an extraordinary auction… an auction so exclusive and high flying that it was in one of the most prestigious country homes just a stone's throw away from the city centre. The house itself was so lavish and exquisite that Francis was dizzy with appreciation and was generally in awe. Alfred on the other hand was much more focused on his task…Only the great and good of the world were at this magnificent building… taking part in this exclusive auction that sold the rarest items in the world, ranging from celebrity memorabilia, to furniture to historical artefacts. Alfred and Francis were relieved to find that Arthur was not at the auction, nor were any of the other nations. It would have made them both look rather stupid as neither of them could afford anything at the auction in the current economic climate.

"Ahh… such a shame? That neither of us can actually afford anything at this remarkable place? It makes me prostrate with dismal!" Francis declared, picking up the items he would have liked to buy, had he not been so horribly poor.

"We are only here to interview the auctioneer Francis! And have a look at what 'X' has his eye on…" Alfred said uninterested in all of the old, musty wares. He had his brand spanking new camera and Dictaphone with him… and that was all he needed for now, he'd bring in a camcorder and the next day when the sales actually took place.

"It seems that you have enough money to buy a new camera Alfred." Francis said smirking a little, caressing a piece of clothing that was to be auctioned off. The more he looked at it, the more thought that it was probably from Yao's place. The delicate patterns and silk must have been from China.

"Ah no! This is a present from Kiku!" Alfred smiled, holding the camera preciously. "I really treasure it you know? He got it me for my birthday last year, but I've hardly had chance to use it!"

The auctioneer came in finally, he looked rather nervous, as if he was aware of the fact he was talking to the living embodiments of France and America. He was an elderly man, probably in his late 60, hair thinning and wearing his best suit and bow-tie, he was a thin, tall and sprawling man. He donned a pair of small spectacles and seemed to be carrying an extremely old leather briefcase. America could only assume he had the Received Pronunciation accent to match.

"Good afternoon gentlemen… it's an honour to be speaking to you both." He said, shaking America's hand giddily. "My name is Charles Curdsley… I will be the one over-seeing the auction tomorrow."

"Nice to meet you Charles! I'm Alfred… and this guy here is Francis!" Alfred presented Francis to the elderly British man, who seemed to be brimming with joy and nerves.

"_Enchanté de vous rencontrer…"_ Francis said non-chalantly and began to take a cigarette out of his box, in the cool way that only a French person can, when they pretend to be unaffected by anyone's presence except their own.

"He meant nice to meet you!" Alfred said embarrassed as Francis' condescending behaviour.

"_Tout le plaisir est pour moi!" _Charles replied smiling, not sensing Francis' aloof atmosphere, or making light of it.

"Ah! Now this I like." Francis said, instantly sounding friendlier. "I'm glad that the language of love is in your vocabulary monsieur!"

"_Bien Sur!_ Some things I think can only be expressed in French…But I'm afraid you can't smoke in here Sir…" he answered.

"Ah! Of course… I'm sorry! I didn't think!" Francis lied, he was actually hoping he would get away with having a cigarette indoors.

"So you are making a film about 'X?' I must say I am rather happy about this! I've noticed it on the records for so long… it puzzled me how it hadn't attracted anyone's attention except for me." Charles confessed honestly.

"I totally understand your point! I got this mysterious letter the other day! I have no idea who it was from … and I thought I had to check it out! It seemed like a story waiting to be told in detail!" Alfred enthused, using more body language than was really necessary.

"Excellent! Topping!" Charles exclaimed with unbridalled joy.

Alfred looked at Francis "YOU HERE THAT FRANCIS? HE JUST SAID TOPPING? AIN'T THAT COOL?"

"Ah…Oui… cool." Francis was more than non-plused.

"I knew that someone would discover it eventually! It's so wrapped in intrigue! I couldn't have hoped for better!"

"I'm so glad someone understands my idea!" Alfred agreed.

Francis on the other hand was rather bemused by the two men's enthusiasm, and was more bothered about the lovely portraits and items around the room. "Is it one of these lovely things?" he said, holding up a vase, looking at the subtle tones in the paint work and the elegant strokes on the body. "These are exquisite… These contours… they are like the lines of a woman are they not? This potter had quite an eye… what a beautiful figure…"

"No not one of those! Hardly unusual enough for 'X's taste!" Charles quipped.

"Yeah Francis! Didn't you read the memo I sent you? 'X' doesn't go for nice things! He goes for mystery!"

"X is a 'e?" Francis said "And… I skimmed it… but when I saw copious uses of the word 'awesome' I was a bit deterred… I thought you would tell me again anyway… so I didn't bother…" he finished.

"I'm guessing he's a he…" Alfred said. "I think it's a he… I mean…I figured that-" Alfred was just about to start on one of his conspiracy theories he'd 'figured out' last night when he was interrupted.

"… to the point gentlemen…" Charles looked at the briefcase and showed Alfred and Francis to his settee, Alfred sat up eagerly like a small child at Christmas. "This is strictly confidential you know… it is a complete secret that I'm showing you this item… I would get into a great deal of trouble if anyone were to find out I showed you this before it went under the hammer-"

"Our lips are sealed! We just want to look at it so we can figure out how to frame our piece for camera? Right Francis?" Alfred said, the excitement from the elderly man was infectious.

"Oui." Francis said, now lazing on the settee, draping his arm along the back and looking more bothered about the cosy settee than the item itself, suspecting it would be some ugly horrible pot or something.

"Well… here we are…" The man slowly put in the combination for the briefcase, building the tension. Alfred was keyed up and ready to go, whereas Francis seemed less than interested.

"Are you ready?" Charles continued, overjoyed that someone was as interested in the mystery buyer as he was.

"I'M TOTALLY READY FOR IT MAN!" Alfred said, unable to contain his excitement.

"Excuse me… I'm just going for a coffee…" Francis stood up and left the room, literally shuddering at Alfred's over-excitement, embarrassed at his cheerful demeanour.

Charles opened the suitcase to reveal a box… a box with strange carvings on… they resembled Celtic knots and a language that Alfred couldn't understand. It was a small, battered thing. It seemed to be in poor condition and had been poorly made.

Despite this, Alfred was fascinated by this little box, this tiny, insignificant box.

"What is it?" Alfred gasped.

"It dates back to about 1000AD…" Charles said, not touching the box, merely leaving it in the case. "It contains a mysterious item… the inscription is believed to read… _'No mortal may open this box…' _isn't that thrilling?"

Alfred could barely decipher what Charles was saying in a flurry of excitement, the words merely seemed to mush into one, as he looked at the box… he felt his carefree cheerful demeanour turn… almost unnaturally into a fierce jealousy. At first he merely admired it… but suddenly, there was an odd pull. As if something inside the box was begging to be opened… as if… it wanted Alfred to open it… and Alfred wanted to open it, he felt as if he _needed _to open it, as if whatever was in it rightly belonged to him.

"Can you open the box?" Alfred barked in an unbecoming fashion. The American's friendly atmosphere had become austere. He instantly checked himself, not wanting to arouse suspicion. "I mean… you know… to look at what's inside?" he feigned an innocent smile, which seemed to relieve Charles who looked worried for a moment at Alfred's change in demeanour.

"Well… I would like to Mister Jones… But I'm afraid it says… _no mortal may open this box…_and to be quite honest… it is simply impossible… we've had many people over the years try to open the box… with no success… experts… pirates… dare I say… magicians… but to no avail." Charles explained. "It's as if it cannot be opened… though that would seem impossible… this box definitely contains something… listen." Charles shook the box now, a heavy clunky sound could be heard.

Alfred became even more curious, he wasn't a mortal… he couldn't help but wonder… would it open for him? He wasn't human, he was a nation… did that mean he would be able to open the box himself? What was in there that 'X' wanted so badly? Or did 'X' even know that there was something inside? Probably not… he probably only knew it was a coveted box, a box that Alfred may have had the power to open.

He took the box off Charles gently, who seemed a little surprised at Alfred's impulsiveness. As Alfred took the box, he felt something within it click, a tiny creak… but it sounded ancient... but it also seemed to echo within the box too.

Charles was taken aback by surprise, so much so he leapt to his feet. "Good God!" he cried out "How on earth did you do that?" the elderly man quickly collected himself, fascinated by the events that were unfolding.

Alfred wore a devilish smile, not answering the question. "So Charles… do you think we should open it?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Quick one chaps! Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has commented and read and favourited... I was amazed really :) I hope you carry on enjoying it **

So the two men were stood, looking upon the box. Alfred was brimming with something of an disturbing anticipation, Charles with a sense of dread. He sensed an unusually heavy atmosphere around the box, he couldn't help but feel something of a cautionary tale springing to his mind… something a kin to Pandora's Box. The box, which had seemed so innocent, now carried a horrible sense of foreboding. He was more perturbed at how the young American had opened the box with such ease, as if his mere touch had caused it to unlock.

"Well… Mister Jones… I really must have that back now… it is going to auction tomorrow." He said, trying to sound fairly upbeat, however, his voice betrayed him as it quivered with apprehension.

"Come on Charlie boy! Where is your sense of adventure?" Alfred said, in a seemingly joking fashion, but there was a great deal of desperation behind his cheerful demeanour. A change had occurred in Alfred, rather than concerning himself about his documentary, all he could think of now was the box. As if the moment he set eyes on it, it had polluted all of his thoughts… poisoned his mind. He could sense the malicious atmosphere as well… possibly better than Charles could, but he could not ignore the pull of whatever was inside, he had to see it. After all what on earth could cause such a feeling?

"Let's just… have a peak." He said quietly as the lid creaked open.

And as it opened, they both gasped. Inside this box… was a dagger, a beautiful bejewelled dagger, The hilt encrusted with diamonds and rubies and sapphires…yet the silver blade was filled with markings that neither Charles of Alfred could understand, it was an item of indulgence, of long algo, Alfred immediately took it in his hand, as if his elbow was spring loaded, he did it with such lightening speed that Charles was shocked.

"Mister Jones!-" he exclaimed, his voice filled with horror. "That is a rare artefact… put it down this instant!"

As Alfred held the dagger his hand cramped around the hilt and his arm became stiff, it was an unnatural reaction… even Charles could see that. "I-I-I can't!" Alfred gasped, desperately trying to struggle with himself. His grip became tighter and tighter… against Alfred's will, his fingers simply tightened, as if his hand was being controlled by something else. He could feel something inside the dagger, it was almost a consciousness, a vague voice… that he could now hear in his own mind. It wasn't words as such, but thoughts… emotions … there was very little coherence, but definitely some… primal feeling there. As Alfred held it, his hand began to become cooler and cooler… until he could no longer bear holding it. He gasped aloud. "Jesus Christ…what the hell is going on?"

"Mister Jones? Are you alright?" he exclaimed worriedly, unable to bring himself to help, paralysed in shock.

"AH!" With a shout, Alfred managed to pry his hand off the item, as he did, he saw a black mark form on his hand, he tried to rub it off, yet it made little difference, it was like some form of symbol, maybe even a pattern. He wasn't concerned with that for the time being and his focus went back to the blade, which Charles was reaching for. "DON'T TOUCH IT!" Alfred cried out, taking off his jacket quickly and putting it around the dagger, and again…he held it tightly, gripping on it unnaturally… even though he had just gone to such pains to let go of it… what on earth was this thing and why did Alfred keep picking it up despite himself?

"What happened?" Charles exclaimed breathlessly, it was obvious that the many had little excitement in his life. He bent over slightly to try and recover his breath.

"I don't know… I couldn't… take my hand off it…" Alfred's expression was knit with apprehension, the excitement had left him and he was now fretting that he should never have opened the box in the first place, he felt his free hand shaking… yet the other was completely still and calm. He was frightened, which was something of a rarity for him. "It just seems to… want to be in my hand…"

"…I…" Charles became overcome with emotion, he became breathless. "I can't sell this… thing… it… feels so evil…" he wheezed. "I don't want 'X' or anyone for that matter to have an item like this… I've never seen anything like it before." He looked desperately at Alfred, his eyes wide with fear. "You can open it! You should take this box! Take it! I don't want it anymore!" he took the box which he had originally taken such care of and was stuffing it into Alfred's rucksack which was left open on the floor. "You've got the dagger… it obviously it meant to be with you!"

"I don't want it either!" Alfred cried out in fear. "You know what? Give it to Mister X! I don't care! I'm out of here!" Alfred said, but… he realized he couldn't take his hand off the dagger, which he'd wrapped in his coat… he could barely move at all. Suddenly his urgency faded, he felt his head lull forward and he became alarmingly despondent.

Francis, strolled back in, having missed all the commotion with the coffee in his hand. From the face of the situation it looked like he hadn't missed anything, both men were stood completely still.

"Wow." Francis said flatly. "I see… is this the item in question?" Francis hinted at Alfred who had the coat wrapped around the item. "Now come on Alfred… give it back…"

He then looked at Alfred's lack lustre posture and Charles' shaking body.

"''As something happened that I've missed?" Francis enquired drolly, taking a sip from the coffee cup. He then took note of Alfred's stiffness, it was nothing short of abnormal for the American to be so still, he immediately put the coffee on the table and tried to shake Alfred by the shoulders. "What's the matter Alfred?" He looked into Alfred's eyes, trying to make him talk.

"I've done something really bad Francis… something really stupid…" Alfred's voice was unusually quiet, he sounded more like his brother, it was barely above a whisper. Francis then took note in the change of ambience in the room, when Francis left it had been full of excitement and intrigue, it was now an unsettling air, with an odd sense of doom.

"What 'appened?" Francis implored to Charles, who also seemed stunned into silence.

"You two leave! Leave at once!" Charles muttered, his voice shaking like a leaf, he walked to the door unsteadily and opened it widely. "And take that cursed box with you! It's in the backpack!" he insisted.

"Alright alright!" Francis said, forcing Alfred out of the room, and taking his rucksack on his back. "Wait…I thought you were in love with this thing a minute ago!"

"GET OUT!" Charles yelled, his voice full of fear and horror. He slammed the door so much that the whole corridor echoed.

"But isn't this meant to be in the auction tomorrow?" Francis rebuked, knocking on the door. He was unable to understand the illogical course of action that was taking place, perhaps he had gone and got his cup of coffee at precisely the wrong moment.

"OUT!" Charles squealed through the door, only just short of hyperventilating.

Francis heaved the body of the young American, who seemed to be dragging his feet along the floor, Francis couldn't see anything that would suggest he was in great pain.

"What is the matter with you?" he added furiously, shaking Alfred by the shoulders, as he was acting in such a catatonic fashion that it caused Francis to become even more annoyed. "I thought we were going to look at this item, not buying it? What did you do, buy it off him?... You led me here under false pretences!" he added shrilly. "I thought I was going to film a masterpiece… but this whole expedition has turned into a disasterpiece!"

Alfred was almost unable to speak. With his free hand he clutched at his head tightly, at first he seemed to be grinding his teeth, it was clear that he was in some form of pain, but what was wrong with him, Francis couldn't determine. Suddenly, a short gasp left his mouth and then Alfred's head fell slowly there was a short pause.

"What is it?" Francis snapped, "Stop gasping and talk to me!" Francis prepared to slap Alfred across the face to snap him out of his daze. But slowly, Alfred lifted his head again. Francis could barely see his expression, he could just see his eyes… glaring forward. Francis sensed something very alien… and unusual in Alfred, something he couldn't identify. This frightened him, he continued with his slap but in the same instant, Alfred grasped Francis before he could even get close to his face. "I…need… to go outside…" he croaked slowly, his voice sounded unusually dark and heavy.

"What?" Francis said, dumbstruck by Alfred's lightening speed reaction.

"I…need… to go… outside." He repeated, his voice rasped.

Alfred shrugged off Francis immediately, he apparently didn't need his support anymore. Francis was startled at how quickly Alfred's demeanour had changed. Just moments before the man could hardly walk on his own, now he was staggering out of the building like some crazed brute, not wanting any help.

As they went out into the corridor, Francis finally noticed the detail... the small item that may have explained this odd change in behaviour "Alfred… Is that… something in your hand?" he enquired warily, noticing the change in Alfred's behaviour.

Alfred didn't answer, he merely staggered to the door of the building and glowered angrily.

Francis couldn't understand what had caused such an emotional metamorphosis… Alfred was acting like a man possessed. Francis was scared now. Alfred was usually so pleasant and joyful ,to see him with such an eerie presence around him was almost too much for Francis to bear. A wild resolve took over Francis, he made a bolt to Alfred, smacking him across the head. It was as if a higher power had urged him on… telling him this was the right thing to do, as if he had to stop Alfred from going outside in that state.

It must have been the timing and speed of the blow that caused Alfred to topple over, but rather than merely startle him, Alfred was out for the count, completely lifeless. Francis kicked his body gentle (and gentle is a synonym for weak in this instance)… he was out cold. Francis smiled… obviously his strength must have knocked him out.

…

Or alternatively… the sheer surprise of Francis successfully attacking anyone was enough to knock them out cold. But the young American had toppled over so easily… it seemed a little too simple. Francis knew Alfred was a strong, stocky type. Surely such a weak blow to head wouldn't be enough to knock him out?

But sure enough it had. As Francis went to pick up Alfred's body from the floor he looked at the item wrapped in the cloth… he sensed the terrible atmosphere surrounding it. But unlike Alfred, it hadn't attracted him… it appalled him. He felt as if he had felt the same presence before…somewhere else. All he knew was that it couldn't stay with him and Alfred, he had a sneaking suspicion that it was the cause of Alfred's odd behaviour. He picked the item up… and threw it in the bin, it was hardly an award winning solution to the problem, but at least it was hidden away... away from prying eyes… Francis carefully dragged Alfred down the road and once they had gotten far away from the dagger, tried to bring him around in a side street.

… But someone had seen the dagger being disposed of… and they, like Alfred… wanted the dagger too… and so it passed into another pair of hands.

"Get up-"

Alfred opened his eyes, a dull pain passed through his body and seemed to settle in his right arm, he heaved himself up to find himself inside his hotel room. It was an understated place, two single beds, a tiny bathroom and one chair and a built in wardrobe. The TV was small and seemed to be blurring out some boring British news.

"Sweet Jesus-" Alfred murmured to himself pained, grasping his arm. "How long was I out?"

"About 6 hours… I had to pretend you were drunk to get you in 'ere… everyone was convinced I'd beaten you up…or worse" Francis said and shuddered at the thought that him and Alfred would have done anything intimate… Alfred was definitely not his taste, he passed Alfred a cup of coffee. "'Ere… and don't you tell anyone… I don't want us to be on the internet, no?"

"Thanks... and don't worry… I don't want to be on the internet for sleeping with you either-" Alfred said slowly, the words seem to struggle to get out of his mouth, despite this, he didn't lack any of his nonexistent inhibitions and accidental rudeness. He felt like he was back to normal and his behaviour would certainly suggest it. "What the heck happened back there? I remember seeing that… that dagger… and then… my mind draws blank…" he looked into his coffee cup, troubled by his cloudy memory. Hoping that if he looked at something blank for long enough his memory would magically reappear.

"A Dagger? So that's what it was." Francis said, sounding surprisingly not angry. "… You 'ad it wrapped in a cloth but I 'ad no idea… Basically that Charles kicked us out of 'is office… and we were leaving, Your were acting strangely… And your body was all tense… I know… because I had a little feel- " Francis teased. "But it appears that is 'as made a mark on you…" Francis hinted towards Alfred's aching right arm.

"What the hell?" Alfred exclaimed bluntly, looking at the mark on his right hand which seemed to have grown, it was now passed his wrist and seemed to be very slowly crawling it's way up his arm. "What is this?"

"I don't know… but I 'ave a bad feeling that… dagger… was involved somehow…" Francis said, not sounding too alarmed. "but 'ow are you feeling?"

"My arm… it's really stiff… and my head… it's swimming… I can't get my thoughts straight… I kind of have this weird… I don't know… feeling… in my mind… but it feels really bad… like I don't want to think about it in case… I… I lose… myself…" Alfred said, he looked at Francis's quizzical and perturbed expression. "I don't want to scare you Francis… but I don't think it's natural…" Alfred stammered. "I think… it might be some kind of evil thing…"

"No, neither do I… now that we've established that between us-" he began drolly. "OF COURSE IT ISN'T NATURAL YOU HAVE A MARKING CRAWLLING UP YOUR ARM LIKE A DISEASE! WHAT KIND OF MORON DO YOU TAKE ME FOR ALFRED? MERDE!" He shouted angrily, instinctively taking out his cigarettes and lighting one as if this action alone would help soothe his nerves a little. "I 'ave no idea what it is! But I do know that you're so 'orrnedous at reading the atmosphere that you probably couldn't tell that it was something evil from the beginning!"

"Do you think there is a cure?" Alfred said, reluctant to make himself look like a total idiot. However, he failed at this quite miserably, as he was drinking his coffee like a small child, taking tiny sips at a time and sticking his tongue out. "Can I have some sugar?"

"Luckily I still 'ave the box… maybe if we ask '_im… _'e can tell us if it's something magical… it is 'is area of expertise…" Francis admonished, taking the coffee cup off Alfred. "So… come on… get your coat… we are going… because at the rate that's growing… we don't 'ave any time to waste."

"No! Come on Francis! Surely there's another way? Don't make me go and visit Arthur!" the American squealed, running to stand against the door, blocking Francis out.

"Shut up! We are going visiting 'im." Francis said simply, pulling Alfred out of the way and dragging him out of the door. "E's the only one who can 'elp you now-" Francis said condescendingly.

"I'd rather die." Alfred whimpered in a childish fashion.

"I think… dying would be the best you could 'ope for even if this curse took 'old of you." Francis added quietly, causing Alfred to bolt to a halt.

"What does a comment like that mean Francis?" Alfred said seriously, fear creeping into his voice, he had a sneaking suspicion that Francis knew more about this mark than he was letting on.

"I think… there are some things worse than death in the world of the occult…mon ami." Francis said, adding the last two words, gently, there was a clear sense of worry in the French man's demeanour, a sense of urgency that was not usually present in him, as if… he had no time to waste.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone thanks for reading and favouriting etc etc… This chapter is kind of long… but hopefully you'll enjoy it

_So… that's my brother for you… innocently looking at something… but inadvertently causing massive problems… like he does. But unfortunately for him… he wasn't the only one who liked this dagger… it seemed that a lot of people were keen on getting their hands on it… but how could they have known… that for humans… that dagger would bring an immediately and horrible death… Pretty grim stuff eh? Well that's nothing compared with the confrontation that was about to take place._

It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon at the Kirkland estate which is about thirty minutes out of the centre of London. It is a fairly secluded spot, possibly **the **most secluded place that is just about commutable to the city. The estate did in fact belong to one man, a certain Arthur Kirkland.

Arthur Kirkland was as old as England itself and was in fact the nation in flesh. He was a generally known as a grumpy, self deprecating and infamously ill-natured young man, who had few friends, not that he minded of course. He had as many friends as he needed. Behind this surly façade, he was a hopeless romantic who was very affection to those he cared. He was convinced that he was a gentleman, however most people thought he was more like a horribly dull man who'd had a stab at being a punk to justify his terrible attitude.

"Good Evening Sir Kirkland…" a young man, named Chris Noble walked into Arthur's office. He was relatively new and he had never met Sir Kirkland before. Peter himself was only 21 and had got this job out of sheer luck (or so he believed). He'd just done a Masters in English history and had by some form of a miracle got this mysterious job…. Peter knew he was working for a man called Arthur, but he didn't really know what Sir Kirkland did… or what his occupation was exactly, but Peter didn't concern himself too much with this as he was paid better than the minimum wage to do easy work for Sir Kirkland and was allowed a lot of holiday time when he needed it.

It was strange that such a seemingly nice employer was such a quiet (and some would even say anti-social) man. When Peter was told to see Sir Kirkland, all the other employees were reluctant to go and gave all manner of well oiled reasons as to why they were unable to see Arthur in his office. So the job fell to him…

Mister Kirkland didn't answer straight away, so Peter cleared his throat and tried again. "Shocking weather isn't it?"

"Ahh… it is… isn't it? Grim and dismal… just the way I like things." Arthur said drolly, waiting for Peter to disagree or laugh. "It's rare I have any visitors… so… forgive my pointed humour!" he said, looking slightly embarrassed at the Peter's blank expression.

Peter was fascinated by all of the grand furniture in his office, all of the old object and artefacts, oddities that most people would never be allowed to see. He looked at items that must have been hundreds of years old… His inner historian was reeling in delight, desperately trying to guess where the artefacts had come from, when they were made, who may have used them. He then looked back at Arthur, who he had thought would have been much older. The oldest employees had told Peter that Arthur had looked the same ever since they started.

"_What…when he started working here?" Peter said._

"_No!" The elderly employee answered. "When I started working here!"_

"_But… how long have you worked here?" Peter asked._

"_50 years now…" _

Peter stared at Arthur, trying to guess his age. He could have only been 25 at the oldest. Perhaps the old man was senile.

"Excuse me-" Arthur said in a condescending fashion. "It's rude to stare you know."

"I'm sorry sir… my mind started to wander…" Peter said quickly.

"Well don't let it… it's too weak to be out on it's own-" Arthur answered, barely interested in the boy and carrying on with his work.

"Sir… where are all these items from… some of these must be 100's of years old-" Peter asked.

Arthur smirked. "Some of them are about one thousand years old… wait you must be… Chris Noble… the history student?"

"Indeed." Peter said, trying not to be intimidated by Arthur's rather brusque and rude behaviour. He was also rather touched that his boss knew who he was, even though the two had never met.

"Well… you tell me where they are from then…" Arthur said, still scratching away on some paper with an antique looking fountain pen. "…Actually…perhaps another time-" Arthur said, before Peter could start. "I assume you have entered here with good reason?... I rarely receive visitors-"

"Ah! Yes…" Peter smiled and presented a newspaper to Arthur, not understanding the message he'd been given at all and assuming it was nothing important. "I was told to tell you that the item you were looking to buy at auction tomorrow has gone…"

The atmosphere instantly became foul. Peter felt the aura around Arthur change from mild disinterest, to a not so mild anger.

"I'm sorry… I don't believe I heard you correctly…" he began, annunciating every letter impeccably. "Did you say the item had…gone?"

"That's right-" Peter said, wearing a nervous smile, he wasn't sure why he was smiling, maybe he was a little frightened. "And in the newspaper…it says the man who was meant to sell it had died… very suddenly… no sign of foul play… so maybe it's still there… In the house…where he lives?" Peter tried to ease Sir Kirkland's sour presence.

Arthur in a flash slammed his fist on the table with such an almighty bang that Peter jumped out of his skin. "DAMN IT ALL!" Arthur shouted furiously.

"Not to worry Sir Kirkland… surely there are other items to buy-" Peter tried to calm Arthur down.

Arthur scowled angrily and banged on the table a second time, with less strength this time, which made Peter flinch. Arthur walked to the window in his study and began to murmur inaudible to himself. Peter could have sworn that Arthur was talking to _someone_, it was like a conversation, and whoever that someone was, it was somebody he seemed fond of. It seemed that the 'other person' had gone because when he came back from the window he was wearing the same scowl he'd had moments before.

"Someone is checking it out for me." Arthur said as he returned to the table, he then looked at the clock. "…Don't employees go home around now?" he added suddenly.

"Not for about another 45 minutes Sir." Peter was now regretting coming into the room at all. It seemed Arthur Kirkland was a senile, horrible employer, who talked to himself and treated everyone around him with distain (at best). He was now unsure as to whether Sir Kirkland wanted him out of the room immediately, or whether he was just asking. There was an awkward silence between the two of them for some time, Arthur seemed to slowly calm down, and Peter was stood, waiting to be told what to do.

"Well then-" Arthur now walked to the tea pot he had in the corner. "Maybe you'd like some tea?" He appeared to have calmed down and even appeared to be relatively happy that Peter was there, as if it would be fun to drink tea with another person, rather than drinking alone, which was something he did nearly all the time. There was a reason why Arthur didn't receive many visitors… his superiors (and his only superiors were the government and Her Royal Majesty) were aware of his dower attitude, and often didn't want him out with _normal _people (Well Arthur was convinced that it was the government who were concerned with his behaviour… the monarchy were much kinder to him).

Peter looked at Arthur's slightly less serious face and worried what kind of ominous threat was behind that offer of a break and spot of tea. _'He must be testing me… that's right!… he wants to see if I'm a slacker… and then he's going to get me fired-'_

"No! Not at all Sir Kirkland! I'm going back to work now! I never slack! I know how things are these days… and you want to let some staff members go-" Peter said, thinking about his basic training, surely this was some kind of trick from his eccentric boss.

"Well I-" Arthur looked a little dejected.

"I can see you're testing me! Don't worry Sir Kirkland! I take my job very seriously!" Peter smiled and was quite eager to leave. "So I'll be going now!" he said, walking to the door and slamming it. Arthur heard the distinct sound of someone running away from his door and then running down the stairs as quickly as humanly possible. He sighed and rolled his eyes jadedly "I suppose it shall have to be tea for one." He poured himself a cup of tea and settled back into his chair and read the paper that Peter had left in his hasty departure.

It was a horrible, foggy late afternoon in London city centre. After Alfred and Francis had negotiated the London Subway (which Francis hated with a passion). They had finally made their way to Arthur's (or England's if you prefer… Or Great Britain's...) house. It was an immensely old Victorian house, truly a mastery of British architecture as it was about 200 years ago…

So as you can imagine, it had a rather old fashioned, one might say haunted presence about it. Even worse, it was early December… so it was Christmas time, meaning the evenings were horribly chilly, then again Alfred didn't really know the difference between the seasons in England… they were all very similar… foggy and rainy.

Alfred hated visiting Arthur, especially to ask him a favour. Francis on the other hand was quite accustomed to visiting the drab and dreary household, it often made him feel better about his place, after all it was so gorgeous in comparison. Arthur had never been extravagant (except for when he was a pirate… obviously… he felt the need to splash out a bit back then). He was more about ceremony and dusty relics…

"It's very grey… and bleak isn't it?" Alfred said uncertainly, standing at the foot of the hill where the property was set.

"Absolument." Francis said, he seemed more cheerful now than he had been all afternoon. Maybe it was the prospect of having some more interesting company other than Alfred. He had finally stopped smoking, perhaps this had helped him calm down. Alfred wasn't certain of that though, he'd always heard that Francis was a nice easy going person, however when he was vexed he was intense… he could understand why woman would be attracted to him, as infuriating as he was.

Francis had his umbrella over Alfred for a moment… but then decided to pull it down as it was beginning to get quite blustery. "This is so typical… I bring an umbrella… and it becomes windy… it's as if he knows I'm here and wants to ruin my life…and my dazzling good looks-"

"You secretly like him don't you?" Alfred said smiling, trying to make light of the very depressing situation.

"…" Francis smiled a little. "Of course not." He said his grin widening as he looked on at the house. But Alfred could tell, he didn't really mean what he was saying. "Now I think it'll be quite a trek up there… we should probably get a move on-"

"Francis…" Alfred looked a little jaded and distressed. "I'm sorry this has happened you know… I didn't want to… put you out… I just…" He looked at the ground with a troubled expression on his face, he could feel his face scrunching up as if he was going to cry. "I'm… scared…Not very heroic is it?... But it wasn't my fault-" He let out a whimper that resembled a laugh until it melted away into a cry, he took off his glasses put his hands to his eyes.

Francis then realized how frightening this experience must have been for the young American, who had honestly meant well. Francis could tell that whatever Alfred had done when he'd been infected by this strange mark, it had been either by an accident, or a moment of foolishness, but definitely not a deliberate action. Francis wasn't sure whether he should have been angry or not, but he wasn't, he merely pitied Alfred. He went to his side and took Alfred's glasses from him, as Alfred uncovered his damp eyes, he saw Francis smiling placidly at him, with a forgiving look in his eyes. "I don't believe it's your fault… rather your misfortune." He saw Alfred squint and him, which reminded Francis of when Alfred was much younger. "Are you really that blind?" Francis chuckled simply.

Alfred smiled and took his glasses off Francis. "Can't see a damn thing without these things." He blushed and wiped them on his jacket, before putting them back on. Francis pointed upwards.

"Shall we go up there?"

Alfred nodded and they proceeded to walk up the hill together.

They quickly managed to gain access into Arthur's office, with the help of Francis's debonair smile and good looks. They then arrived at the door, Francis had rather conveniently decided to stay with one of the young receptionists he had befriended and allowed Alfred to go into Arthur's study alone.

Unsure of what he would find in there. Alfred reluctantly entered the study of his once big brother, enemy, ally, and now a friend he was desperately trying to shake off.

He decided his best bet would be to act as if there was nothing wrong at all, that way Arthur wouldn't shout at him immediately, as this was a common trait in the Briton.

"Hey Arty! How are things buddy?" He said with the most convincing smile he could muster. Luckily for him, Arthur wasn't paying a great deal of attention.

"Oh Alfred… what an unexpected treat." Arthur said drolly, but Alfred's could tell he was actually quite happy. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" he barely lifted his head as he continued to work at first, but then lifted his head and was wearing an odd smile. It would be seen as nice, except Alfred could tell that this smarmy smirk was a '_what have you done now' _look.

"Well… I was … kind of wandering… if you fancied… a little adventure…with me… and Francis…"

Arthur laughed dryly. "You say that as if it's an incentive for me to come along…" he now moved out of his chair and decided he would have another cup of tea, the last one was very unsatisfying, far too weak. He now checked to see if the tea had brewed in the pot, this time it looked perfect. He carefully poured a cup and added milk, stirring it carefully, ensuring he didn't spill a single drop. "Tea?" he offered curtly.

Alfred shook his head. "Rusty colour water? No thanks."

"Suit yourself." Arthur returned to his seat and supped from the small cup. "Despite your… shall we say 'untantalising' description, the request interests me… Why would you ask for my help?"

"…Well…because… I did something… with a magic thing… and evil came out… and I thought you might be able to help-" Alfred said, being deliberately vague, he knew that Arthur would be furious if he found out he was the cause of this 'evil'.

"How horribly vague." Arthur sounded less than enthused. However, the next comment surprised Alfred. "Still… I'm sure it will be a romp… so I suppose I will help-" he took another sip of tea.

"A romp? It's an evil thing? How is that a romp? A romp is going to a baseball game! A 'romp' is watching a fun action movie… not evil magic things!" Alfred exclaimed.

"My life has been sadly reduced to boring bureaucracy." He stood up and gestured to all the work on the shelves. "Look around you Alfred… this is what happens when you're as old as me… ordinary things start to lose their thrill…and your superiors want you to do the work they don't have time for… and if you're anything like me… you start collecting things to make life a little bit more interesting. I used to have such fun back in the good old days… before your time of course-" he added rather sharply.

"Is this what humans call a mid-life crisis?" Alfred said bluntly, looking at the odd-ball collection of items, he felt as though he recognised some of the items… but couldn't quite place where he had seen them before.

Arthur let out a surprisingly chipper laugh, "Ahh… quite! Possibly! I don't know… I'm not really a human!" He then, without hesitation, began to ask Alfred questions. "So… this evil thing… please be a little more specific about what it is… if you are capable?-" he added as a slight.

"Well… I was planning on doing this documentary on this mysterious buyer at auctions called X… he buys really weird items… with no connection to each other…" Alfred started to explain, assuming that Arthur would have no idea about 'X'. "…so I went to the auction house where one of the items he wanted to buy was up for sale… It was this box… with a dagger in it… but the auctioneer let me have a look at it… then he let me keep it… it had like an evil vibe… so Francis threw it in the bin." Alfred stumbled through his story which was full of holes and misgivings haphazardly and unsurely. It was obvious that he was not disclosing the most important parts, but he was sure that Arthur… probably(?) wouldn't notice.

Arthur let out a short dry hallow laugh, which scared Alfred, it was as if he knew he was lying... or withholding information "A Mister… Charles Curdsley perhaps? He was the auctioneer?"

"Yeah! That's the auctioneer guy? Is he okay?" Alfred asked urgently, having a soft spot for the old guy, even if he had been a little unusual and eccentric, he was also genuinely worried as he couldn't remember the end of their encounter.

"Mr Curdsley is dead." Arthur said simply, throwing the paper in front of Alfred. Alfred's mouth dropped when he saw the headline on the paper, it was of course the afternoon edition.

"Oh my God!" Alfred cried in horror. "But… he was fine…a few hours ago!"

"Well people usually are fine until they die suddenly… that's what makes it sudden." Arthur added sarcastically, leaning back into chair.

"You could pretend to be a little sorry for the guy!" Alfred exclaimed, appalled by Arthur's lack of respect for a dead person. He began to feel angry when he saw Arthur's expression remain unchanged. "You know… he just died… you have to feel sorry for him-"

"I don't have to pretend to feel sorry for him when I don't-" Arthur began. "Besides… the nature of his death… is not as innocent as it seems." He stood up for a moment and went to bring his tea pot over. "Are you sure I can't interest you in a cup of tea? It's rather good if I do say so myself-"

"ARTHUR!" Alfred shouted. "I don't want a cup of tea! What happened to Charles?"

"I'm sure I taught you better manners… in England we say… no thank you… I'm afraid I shan't tell you anything until you say that-" Arthur said patronisingly, wagging his finger.

"No thank you." Alfred said through gritted teeth, frustrated at how Arthur could be so annoyingly obnoxious.

"It would seem that your friend Mister Curdsley was quite eager to get his hands on item… so much so he rooted it out of the bin after you two had left… and…well… he died soon after touching it… But not before… someone else stole it off him-" Arthur poured himself another cup of tea and again finished it methodically, and then went to the window.

"What? How can you know that?" Alfred said, unable to understand what Arthur was saying. "I mean he was petrified of that thing? Why on earth would he go back and get it?"

"To answer your first question I know it quite easily… When the body was found the dagger was gone… and is nowhere to be found… and don't worry Alfred… the police checked the bin too…" He added condescendingly. "Therefore… the dagger has been stolen… I hate to coin an old phrase but the art of deduction told me so- and to answer your second question, Mister Curdsley and the second thief would have both stolen the dagger for the same reason… it's priceless… and an extremely tempting piece of antiquity that I myself was hoping to acquire…"

"Wait a sec… you mean… _you're _X?" Alfred realized, shocked to the core. "You're the guy who was gonna buy the box in the first place?"

"Yes Alfred, please don't be so shocked…" Arthur said calmly. "It is hardly surprising when you think about it… but you could have just asked me about it… rather than going on a merry song and dance making a documentary… although… I would have liked to have seen it-" He added smirking.

"You're… X?" Alfred was still stuck on the first fact.

"Well of course I am you idiot! Look around this study! Isn't it obvious now I've just told you?" Arthur said incredulously.

"Well… I don't know…" Alfred said baffled.

"I collect antiques! I've been collecting antiques for hundreds of years! How could it have not crossed your thick skull that I was X?" Arthur gestured wildly around the room.

Alfred looked at the room, all the antiques… he recognised them all from his research. It looked like some mad man's emporium, a room full of unusual, bizarre artefacts. "It… is you…But why? I don't understand! Why would you collect all this stuff? There's no common theme or anything?"

"Why would I collect anything Alfred?" Arthur smiled. "Because it has magical properties which would be dangerous in any other hands other than mine-"

"Like the item in question?" The penny had dropped in Alfred's mind.

"Like the item in question." Arthur answered, with a dark smile.

Alfred took a sharp and deep breath, now horrified with the idea that he was in a room full of weird, scary and probably occult objects... that could cause all kinds of evil. "I forgot how much you like creepy things… I bet half the stuff in here could bring calamity to the whole planet…"

"Speaking of which Alfred… I believe you may have done that too… trust you to accidently bring calamity and death to the whole planet-" Arthur quipped.

"It was an accident!" Alfred said seriously, feeling quite sore about the fact he may have done the whole planet a massive disservice, especially when he had done it by a complete accident.

"Yes, yes." England said more gently this time, his harsh voice broke slightly into a softer tone. "I know it was an accident Alfred… you don't need to worry about that-" He then stood up, taking his coat and cane from the stand in the corner of the room. "Well come along-"

"Sweet? You mean you're going to help?" Alfred beamed.

"If you only have yourself and Francis in your party I daresay I will… or else the whole world will be in dust, you need someone with a brain in your team…. Chop Chop! Humanity is at stake here!" He clapped his hands in a patronising fashion.

"God… I hate this guy." Alfred murmured to himself as he walked out of Arthur's office with his hands in his pockets.

"Although you personal monologues are none of my business… could you kindly not refer to me as 'this guy." Arthur said as he passed through the door and then allowed Alfred ahead of him. He put on a coat, leather gloves, a scarf and looked rather dapper, even Francis would have been impressed.

Alfred smiled at Arthur, finding his odd brand of affection rather endearing… the manners which were a bit forced, but probably good willed. "So… how did you know about Charles? And the kidnapping… was it the evidence?"

Arthur smiled and simply said. "I _saw _him_…_" There was something about the way he said it that troubled Alfred. There was an unusually dark tone in Arthur's voice. One that Alfred may not have known particularly well, after all, Arthur had once been an older brother to him.

"You were there?" Alfred gasped, surprised by Arthur's simply delivery.

"No… that's not what I said… I _saw _him." Arthur repeated.

"You… mean… you saw… him… when he was dead? You can see dead people?" Alfred exclaimed, already freaked out by the prospect of Arthur's weird and generally undisclosed powers.

"I can see a lot of things Alfred… like a large… rather troubling European… heading straight for us." Arthur seemed to go an odd shade of grey as he saw Francis approaching him. Francis seemed rather happy to see Arthur, but Arthur seemed less than happy to see him. They had something of a love hate relationship. Francis loved to tease Arthur and Arthur loved to beat Francis in every conceivable way, they were victims of proximity. Neither of them were massively popular, well Francis had been, back in the day along with Gilbert or Prussia as he was known and Antonio, who we know as Spain.

"Bon Soire! Mon ami!" Francis immediately kissed Arthur on both cheeks, but didn't come anywhere near him after he had done this...it was as if he didn't want to touch him, but simply fulfil his European duty of making the Briton squirm by being overly affectionate.

"How very _French _of you." Arthur said, saying the word 'French' like a dirty word. "Please get off me-"

"'Is all talk mon ami… you wouldn't 'urt me would you?" he said with a smile.

"I'd like nothing better." Arthur murmured to himself, this caused Francis to laugh rather heartily.

"You see… e's as charming as they come!" Francis smiled, patting Arthur on the back. "Now! Alfred… Mon capitaine! You like being an 'ero right? Don't suppose you could do me a favour and run ahead and sort out our next 'otel? 'ere's my card… I want to reminisce with Arthur about old times."

When Alfred heard the word 'reminisce', he was certain that it would be a horrendously tedious conversation about times gone by, before he was born, in which he would be sat extremely bored with nothing to do. "Yeah! Sure I will! Leave it to me!" he smiled positively.

"Good man! That's what I like to see!" Francis smiled widely. "Now go on! We'll meet you later at the tube station at Piccadilly Circus maybe about six o clockish!"


	4. Chapter 4

Arthur and Francis watched as Alfred walked off into the distance and out of sight. They decided to take the same route at a much slower pace.

As the walk began, it became quite obvious that they weren't going to reminisce, Arthur looked warily at the French man, who he suspected may have taken an abrupt turn of mood. However, he was relieved to find that Francis was relatively cheery.

"Ton frère has gotten us in quite a problem 'as 'e not?...you must be very proud of 'im-" Francis took a cigarette out of his box and place it in his mouth and lit it quickly, taking a drag as if it was oxygen.

"I can think of other words aside from proud… vexed… furious… and so on… but still… it makes things more interesting for us doesn't it?" Arthur said slowly, looking at the grey sky as if he could see something in them that made him relaxed.

"Oh Bien Sur!" Francis added, trying to see what Arthur was looking at, to no avail. "Things have gotten quite… enneyeux n'es pas?"

"Enneyuex ineed." Arthur said, waving his hand through the smoke, and coughed feebly.

"Not a smoker mon ami?" Francis smiled at seeing Arthur in discomfort. It reminded him of when Arthur had been small. Francis had always delighted in him and Arthur had changed very little since then. Upon reflection, Francis realized that he hadn't either…perhaps that was the price that nations pay, it is difficult to change.

"Not so often anymore… It's quite a filthy habit-" Arthur concluded. "It does nothing for the old teeth you know…"

"Too busy drinking I suppose?" Francis added dryly. Knowing that it was hardly a comment Arthur could disagree with, many people wrongly believed that he was a regular alcoholic. This was in fact not true, he in fact had a very high tolerance for alcohol, it had built up over the years. However, when he had a binge… it was horrible for everyone. So he had a tendency to spend periods being 'tea total', after all, alcoholism wasn't very gentlemanly (even though many men who were seen as gentlemen did seem to use alcohol as a prop). Francis was also aware that Arthur usually drank to help himself cope with certain unusual abilities that he had that made his life quite complicated.

"You live a day in my life Francis… see if you drink then." Arthur added indignantly. He looked at the Frenchman who seemed to be rather fond of teasing him, but it had always been that way.

"So… 'ow are things?" Francis asked, he watched Arthur shiver in the cold. "It's always cold 'ere isn't it? I thought you would 'ave gotten used to it… but 'ere you are shaking like a leaf! It's very cute you know!" he added with a grin.

"It's cold here quite often... but I don't mind too much… I prefer the cold, it's sobering." Arthur replied, disinterested in Francis' first question. "I'm fairly well I suppose… and yourself?"

"I can't complain…" Francis replied, with that same silly annoying smile on his face. He came closer to Arthur and leaned in a little. "If you're so cold… maybe we should get closer together-"

"What are you bloody smiling about?" Arthur said testily. Looking in the opposite direction, trying not to meet Francis' line of gaze.

"You're worried about 'im aren't you?" Francis said. "Come on admit it-"

"Naturally-" Arthur admitted finally.

"Ahhh! I knew it! It seems you still 'ave a soft spot for 'im!" Francis said happily. "Now _that_ is what is truly cute about you! You still care about 'im-" he then went directly next to Arthur's ear. "And don't worry mon ami… I'm not even vaguely attracted to you… so don't worry about that- Why does everyone think I'm interested in them romantically?"

"Because you're France." Arthur answered sulkily. "Everyone in Europe likes you-"

"Not just in Europe mon ami!" Francis pulled Arthur's cheek. "Everyone loves Nii-san! And you should too!"

"That's not what you used to say." Arthur pulled away.

"Oh now… come on Arthur… don't go all… I don't know… angry on me! That's in the past!" Francis sounded slightly contrite, but only slightly.

Francis and Arthur had a few petty arguments on the way up to the city centre, they didn't even speak about the subject in hand (that was the end of the world, though it would have put a significant downer on things). It had been a rainy, but enjoyable walk. Arthur would never admit it, but he did enjoy these walks with Francis, and secretly Francis enjoyed them too. It was in fact something they did quite often, maybe twice a year every year (for those two, it was as often as they would ever need to walk together). Even though sometimes the two of them would talk about the most mundane things and sometimes never speak a word to each other the whole time they were out. Passers-by would never have guessed that they were even acquainted.

They finally arrived at the now bustling train station. It was 6:00pm, rush hour, probably the worst time to be at the station at all. The majority of people there were commuters, all tired after a long days work, and in between them all, like an annoying ray of sunshine (well at least in Arthur's opinion) was Alfred Jones, who seemed considerable brighter than he was earlier, he was carrying a McDonalds doggy bag and was waving at Francis and Arthur. "Hey guys! I got us a hotel! It seemed pretty cheap too!" he smiled.

"You seem remarkably chipper." Arthur said warily, unsure at what had brought about this positivity, he knew that for Alfred, it would probably be something rather small and trivial.

"I've just had a McDonalds!" Alfred smiled. "That always makes me happy!" This comment caused Arthur to wince, he sometimes wondered if he had ever brought Alfred up... sometimes it seemed so ridiculous that Arthur would have brought up such a happy-go-lucky person who got a thrill out of eating.

"I should 'ave known." Francis looked sick at Alfred's words. Francis also got a thrill out of eating, but he needed to eat something wonderful and palatable, for him, McDonalds was neither of these things. "If eating tripe makes you this 'appy then I'm seriously considering our friendship… then again when I think of who raised you… it's 'ardly suprizing, no?" he cast his glance at Arthur who was seething on the spot.

"I fed him better food than that-" Arthur protested.

"If you fed 'im… I'm sure it wasn't any better than that." Francis answered, laughing.

"Anyway! The hotel is really nice! It's called the King George hotel!" Alfred said, giving Francis his card back. "Thanks for this buddy! You know I had my own, but seeing as you offered so nicely… I thought it was only fair that I use it!"

"Ahhh you're welcome mon ami! I'm just glad you used that brain of yours and found a nice place… you said it was cheap didn't you?" Francis said, taking his card and putting it in his exquisite leather wallet that had been a gift from Italy (Romano… which was highly unusual… though he did see him doing that dodgey deal one time… so perhaps it was a 'hush hush' gift). Francis valued this wallet equally to _all _the gifts the other nations had got him. He liked them because they reminded him of the glory days, when he used to be good at things except making food, and admiring gorgeous things… (or as Arthur called it being a pretentious twat). "I've stayed there for work a few times… and it is a nice place."

"The King George? You must have more money than sense." Arthur said cynically. "I don't even know what you're paying for..."

"Errr?" Francis made a sudden shock sound, that implied he wanted to know more. "Pardon?... I've stayed there before… but I don't usually pay the bill… I get my boss to do it!" he said happily.

"The King George is without doubt the most expensive and overrated hotel in London… it's nice enough… but you could have stayed at as nice a place for far cheaper… and I know these things." Arthur said haughtily.

"What! But it was really cheap! And it's only for a night!" Alfred chimed in cheerfully, eating fries and chewing unceremoniously. The fact he'd found a hotel in London near Christmas was a big achievement in his opinion, it was even better when he knew he wasn't spending his own money. Francis's expression didn't seem so happy, in fact he looked rather sick at both Alfred's foul eating habits and the prospect of paying a fortune for something less than stellar.

"You did realize the price was pounds… and not dollars… didn't you?" Arthur said woefully, knowing that this probably wasn't the case and Alfred had been thinking in dollars again.

"Awwww man-" Alfred said, sounding only slightly bothered. "I'd forgotten about that… I keep doing that you know?" he then smiled and looked at Francis who really did look like he was going to be sick. "Sorry dude! Do you want a fry? I'm sure that'll make you feel better!" he suggested cheerfully.

"I thought as much." Arthur sighed, again embarrassed by Alfred's lack of foresight.

"WAIT? THAT'S MY CARD? THE CHARGE WILL BE IN EUROS AS WELL!" Francis recoiled in horror at the chip and then exclaimed. "I'm going to get charged even more for using my card abroad!"

"HA! See how you like that frog! Even my economy can sting you!" Arthur said, as if he had just accomplished a major victory. Alfred was worried that this kind of sad one-up-man-ship might start to affect him when he got old.

"NO! YOU ARE A CRUEL AND 'ORRIBLE MAN!" Francis said despairingly, suddenly becoming massively overdramatic, falling to his knees in the middle of the busy station. "I… I'M SO BROKE! I CAN'T BELEVE THAT JUST 'APPENED!"

"If it's any consolation FROG, it's not very far away from here… I'm sure you could crawl there and save yourself the bother of getting up." Arthur sneered. "Come on then! Let's go!"

"You're not staying with us! You dog! You 'ave a 'ouse to go to! Don't you?" Francis said desperately getting back on his feet.

"I believe we have a lot of things to discuss… do we not?" Arthur smiled. "Like how we are going to exact this rescue of humanity… So let's look lively!" He said, finally finding some spring in his step walking up the stairs of the underground.

"'E's only 'appy when I'm miserable… it's such a shame…'e's so cruel." Francis moaned and Alfred waited for him to walk up the stairs, and he seemed to be taking his sweet time doing so.

"He's only kidding! He only does it because he cares!" Alfred said jovially, elbowing the Frenchman. "He's only horrible to his friends!"

"Well then I must be 'is favourite friend." Francis said drolly as he saw the young British man far ahead of him, walking with his cane clacking on the floor, obviously making his presence felt to all those around him. Maybe it was because he was so short, but Francis couldn't help but feel Arthur was over compensating with his cane for his smaller stature "Look at 'im… who does 'e think 'e is?"

Alfred just smiled as he caught up with Arthur, leaving Francis in the distance. "Ey! Wait for me!" he exclaimed, following behind them both.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi everyone! Thanks for reviewing and favouriting! You guys are ace! I received a really good review which pointed out some good inconsistencies in the plot, so I'll just clear a few things up… (If you don't care… then just skip this italic bit) Francis smokes in this, kind of because I've been reading a lot of Doujin lately… and he smokes a lot in doujin… I'm sorry anyone whose upset by this… Also, Arthur having a cane... this is just a misgiving on my part, in Victorian times, it was kind of common for men of high standing to have canes (even if they were able to walk fine ^^) I think Himaruya mentioned it a bit ago, but I should have clarified... sorry about that (Damn my Englishness... we get talk all this pointless crap at school lololol) Everyone in the plot does seem a bit blasé about the end of the world… but Arthur and Francis aren't too worried… 'oh it's kind of nostalgic' _

_And Francis and Arthur's relationship will become clearer as the plot comes on… it's a bit erratic at the mo, but it'll all be explained… anyway enjoy this chapter… and thanks to __Blatherskite3__ for her good review_

The trio arrived at the hotel swiftly, not taking in the busy clamour of London. They'd all been there before, and none of them were particular bothered about going out for a night on the town, after all, they were possibly facing a catastrophe of epic proportions. Alfred was trying to act in as positive way as possible, hoping that this might be enough to stay the badness that he could feel slowly building up in him, he knew he was okay at the moment and he could control it. "Hey guys! I'll go check in! How about we meet back in the bar in ten minutes?" Alfred asked, eager to do something useful. "I had mine and Francis' baggage sent from our last hotel so it should be behind the reception desk… I'll take it up!"

"Yes… good idea." Arthur said as he took off his gloves and put them in his pocket, shooing Alfred away like a small child. "We'll see you shortly."

"Right!" Alfred was happy that he now had a purpose, rather than loitering around. He went to the reception. "Oh… um… excuse me?" he said politely.

"Yes sir?" A young woman was sat on the reception desk, she seemed rather jaded until she saw Alfred's face, and realized he was American and rather young, it made a nice change to all of the extremely well off, boring English people she dealt with. "… can I help?"

"Actually… I think I spoke to you on the phone earlier… My name's Alfred Jones, I booked some rooms earlier today!" he said smiling at the young woman. "And I think you might have bags for me… and my friend Francis Bonnefoy…"

"Ahhh! Mister Jones!" she said in a sudden fluster, as if the penny had dropped in her head. "Yes! I remember now! After your call…I checked '_the list'_ and found your name on it! So I had to ring the British consulate and then I got a message from your superior!" She listed out her boring mundane job as if it was the most exciting thing she'd done that week "Mister Obama sends his regards and is more than happy to pay for your accommodation... well I didn't talk to him himself… but I spoke to one of the top people at the White house! It's like that show 'The West Wing' I love that show-"

Alfred looked one a little sheepish. As if he was bothered about 'The West Wing', he found it totally boring, but felt kind of obliged to say it was good. "Err… yeah…"

She cleared her throat and continued, "… but I have to ask… are you really who I think you are… if he's your immediate boss?"

"Me?" Alfred smiled. "I'm just trying to be a hero that's all." He said innocently with a wink, causing the young lady to swoon. This wasn't the desired effect, he just wanted to seem nice and friendly to her. It had apparently worked, she'd now figured out who he was and was instantly giddy with excitement. "He's not exactly my boss…err…well…it's complicated…"

"Wow! So you're really him!" she blushed, not saying 'America' aloud in case it made her look a bit odd. "I only know because we have a list of names for… your kind of people… we have to check it when you say that phrase… you know the one you said over the phone-"

"I know it... I use it quite a lot these days…" He smiled sweetly at her, he was rather charmed that someone English would actually be so excited to see him, but then he did remember that most 'mere mortals' would be rather excited to meet someone like him… any of the nations.

"Well… here are your documents and your keys Mister Jones… and might I say… it is an absolute pleasure to have you here… please convey my regards to Mister Bonnefoy as well…we're so happy that you chose to stay with us."

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled that he won't have to foot the bill." He laughed gently. "Thanks very much for all your help… what's your name? Maybe I'll fill out one of those little comment cards you have." He said.

"Oh why thank you Sir!" she said proudly. "It's Joanne…" she smiled.

"Joanne aye? Well thanks a bunch!" he said, just as he left, she opened her mouth for a moment as if hesitant. "Is there something else?"

"I was just wondering Mister Jones… have you ever met… England?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's funny…we don't know what his pseudonym is… it's as if he doesn't want anyone to know who he is."

"I think he wants to keep it a secret." Alfred smiled, "He's a weird kind of guy…"

"Is he nice?" she said quietly, as if they were having some form of top secret conversation. "I'd like to meet him… but I suppose he must be really old right?"

"Nice? No no not all of the time… but he's a good person… a really good person… and he really cares about you guys… he always has… so count yourself lucky! You got a good representative… even if you don't know him!"

"DON'T DAWDLE ALFRED!" Arthur shouted angrily as he helped Francis open the heavy door leading to the bar.

"Oh no." Joanne lowered her head and pretended to work.

"Aye?" America had an odd smile on his face.

"It's Mister Kirkland." She said, her face going an odd shade of green. "He's a right one… always surly he is… he stays here about three times a year, if he has a plane to catch early in the morning…He usually rambles on at us, we try to ignore him-"

Alfred smiled, she obviously had no idea that Arthur was England at all, despite wanting to meet him so much. "Maybe give him some time… the next time you see him… you never know who he might represent…" he said cryptically, she obviously didn't get the unsubtle hint at all as she rushed into the back room the moment Alfred turned his back. Alfred couldn't help but sigh, Arthur seriously needed to work on his people skills.

He took all the bags up to his room, he then went next door and put Francis' bags in there too, (despite the fact they were both staying on the top floor, Alfred found it remarkably easy to carry Francis' large bag, his own bag and their hand luggage).

Alfred was in love with his room, a king size bed, a settee, a huge television and even better… a games console. A large bathroom that even had a Jacuzzi in it… Alfred couldn't understand why Arthur wouldn't like such an amazing hotel… It had everything!

Alfred had to congratulate his boss for allowing him to stay in such a nice room, even though he wasn't on business. Alfred liked his new boss, it was just a shame that he didn't get to see Arthur so much anymore. He started to unpack the box from inside his backpack… he, unsure what to do with it, stuffed it inside the McDonalds doggy bag, so he could show it Arthur when he went back downstairs… he only did this because he wanted it to be 'incognito…' (…He knew it was a stupid plan, but he'd seen it in a spy movie and he didn't want to go to a bar with a backpack… not that a McDonalds bag is much of an improvement). He fell back on the bed for a moment, he then hesitantly pulled up the sleeve of his jacket. The mark had grown very little to his relief, he took a deep breath, knowing that his happiness would probably be short lived and that he would soon feel extremely frightened and miserable.

At the same time as Alfred was taking the luggage, the Europeans thought they would make a head start on the bevies.

"After you." Arthur smirked, holding the door open for Francis. As Francis passed through he muttered. "There's a cash machine over there Francis… I think you might need to draw some money _old chap_…" he added with a feigned politeness. "…Or how about I buy you a round? I should expect it'll cost a shiny penny in a place like this… call it my treat." He couldn't help but grin a little bit, but didn't really want Francis to suffer horribly, he thought he could at least cushion his misfortune a little.

"'ow very… _English _of you." Francis said in a reversal of roles. "But it is appreciated mon ami." He said heavily as he walked to the cash machine and drew some money out. He then saw the young lady from the reception come into the bar to get some water. "Joanne! It's been too long!"

"Mister Bonnefoy!" she said ecstatically happy to see him. "I just saw Mister Jones, he mentioned you might be here!"

"A friend of yours Francis?" Arthur said looking at her sceptically, as she pretended not to see him.

"Ah yes! This is my lovely Joanne! She's so good to me! Whenever I'm staying 'ere she always takes excellent care of me…" he said, smiling at her.

"Oh Mister Bonnefoy! It's always a pleasure to have you here… I wasn't aware that you and Mister Kirkland were friends." She said, her face began to sour as she said the latter part of the sentence.

"Ahh! I know someone as nice as me… knowing someone as 'orrible as 'im!" Francis smiled, pulling Arthur's cheek again. "But surely… you know who 'e is?"

"Enough flirting Francis… lets go and have a drink." Arthur said, blushing a great deal as he pulled himself away from Francis' grasp. "You can serenade Joanne with sweet talk later-" he then took Francis by the arm and practically dragged him away from the receptionist.

Alfred had already made his way to the suspiciously 'pubbish' bar and decided to take a seat. He found a seat in the most dimly lit corner of the already dark and dismal pub, which was full of odd weaponry, hideous paintings of boring battles and the odd bit of nautical memorabilia. Alfred had never really understood why nearly every English pub looked the same, it didn't matter how old they were, they just all seemed to look really similar to him. Maybe it was because he was America, but they all looked identical to each other, they just had different (and totally weird) names.

Francis and Arthur followed in shortly afterwards, sparring with each other in the form of a verbal battle (it was more like a verbal onslaught on Arthur's side to be honest), in the way that only an English and Frenchman could. Even though they knew Alfred was waiting, they took their time when deciding what drink to order. Arthur sat down with a pint of some horrendously amber looking drink, that when Alfred took a sniff reminded him of wheat growing in a field. Francis soon joined them with a glass of wine, irate at the fact he had been called a 'pansy' by the bar staff and those around him in the queue.

"She doesn't even know who you are? I mean she obviously knew you… but she didn't know you're a nation?" Francis chortled, trying to get over the fact he'd just been called a pansy. "That's un peu embarrassing… no?"

"I don't see why everyone should know who I am… I, unlike you Francis am a quiet man, it wouldn't do well for me to have every Tom, Dick or Harry in the street knowing me. I like to be private that's all-"

"She didn't seem to like you very much… I'd say quiet is a convenient substitute word for anti-social in your vocabulary… eh?" Francis sniggered as he took the smallest sip of his wine, he hated to admit it, but it was prepared to perfection, even if the bar staff were idiotic.

"So…let's get to it then…" Arthur said with purpose.

Alfred took a deep breath… he could sense that the integration was about to begin…


	6. Chapter 6

Alfred stumbled through a very poor recap of the situation, which essentially censored any blame on his part.

"So…Let me summarize… You threw the dagger in the bin… and still have the box?" Arthur snapped as he put his pint down steadily.

"Yeah… pretty much… but what about the bit where I went a bit cra-"

"The only two details I care about right now are the whereabouts of the box… and the whereabouts of the dagger…" Arthur paused and glanced at Alfred's McDonalds bag. "I can feel the box's presence… it's hidden inside that McDonald's doggy bag of yours… might I suggest a more appropriate hiding place for it?" Arthur said. "…Really Alfred… you should try and conduct your affairs with a touch more finesse." He said as Alfred rummaged through his doggy bag.

"I thought I'd hide it in a place where people would least expect to find it!" Alfred replied with a youthful excitement, the same vigour had long left Arthur's surly demeanour. "Here it is… a 'magicy' thing… your forte."

Arthur took the box cautiously, he then ran his fingers over the wooden grooves that had been cut in, the craftsmanship was poor, even Alfred suspected it had been made in something of a hurry. Arthur's eyes were fixed upon it, as if the world around him had melted away and this box had momentarily become his world. "What an interesting little box…" he muttered to himself, with a smile. Alfred couldn't why Arthur was making such a big deal out of it.

"'Ow is it interesting?" Francis chimed in. "It is a little box… no more no less."

"Fickle as ever Francis… if it doesn't have a thousand gorgeous sparkling jewels on it… then if doesn't appeal to you." Arthur snapped quickly "You see… if you had an eye for detail rather than an eye for beautiful things then you will notice a number of very interesting things about this box… Firstly, it was made in a tremendous hurry."

"Well, yeah! I thought that too!" Alfred said, whilst making an unearthly noise through his straw. "Do you think the people who cut it were in trouble?"

"Well… I would assume that like you, they may have sensed a malevolent force from the dagger and then were eager to be rid of it… they seemed to somehow subdue it's presence a little in this box, so perhaps they knew some magic, but not enough for it's perverse appeal to be destroyed completely…" Arthur said, he seemed slightly unsettled by the box after a closer inspection and placed the box away from him.

"'Ow unnerving." Francis said, sipping at his wine.

"Indeed … A great evil was contained inside this box… and it could be anywhere in the world right now…" he sighed irately. He looked into the fireplace contemplating the situation. Francis merely looked through his wine glass and sighed heavily. Alfred was unable to sit quietly, he had a deep sinking feeling, if he had caused this horrible problem, he simply had to help resolve the situation. Behind his heroic bravado, he felt frightened and vulnerable, as if this evil was such a terrible threat, to him more than anyone else… He couldn't think properly and vocalised this with a lot of trouble sighs and then spoke. "So? We gotta find it! And get it back…Do you think you will be able to deal with it Arthur?" Alfred blurted suddenly.

"Oh I should think so." Arthur said, with his usual contempt. "So long as we get it within a week…"

"A week? Only a week? Why only a week?" Alfred said urgently.

Although Arthur could have chosen this moment to be horrible and emotionless, he thought better of it. "…Look at your arm… I think the answer will become clear…"

Alfred slowly pulled up his sleeve, the horrible black mark had continued to grow, his lower arm was completely covered in black marks. "Oh… My…-" Alfred's voice trailed off.

Francis let out a short scream, which caused the bar staff to laugh even more. Arthur ignored Francis' French cursing; he was far more concerned about Alfred.

"It's as I feared, the dagger has left an evil mark on you. It happens to anyone who touches… so don't think you're special… I doubt it has any intelligence." Arthur said drolly as he looked at America, who was far too frightened to be egotistical. "If it did, it certainly wouldn't have picked you."

"Err… 'ow come you know so much about this thing then?" Francis said abruptly, as if his attention had been diverted from the barman's taunts.

"… I researched that object thoroughly… I know exactly what it does to people, what it will do to our rather unfortunate friend here."

"Friend? That's a little endearing for you." Francis replied sharply.

"Shut up you… I wanted to get my hands on it so I could keep it locked away from the world… so it wouldn't be touched by anyone…"Arthur brooded heavily, his eyes still focused in the fire. "Besides, don't underestimate my knowledge of magic."

"…What's going to happen?" Alfred stammered, all his heroic bravado had well and truly betrayed him and his eyes showed his fear to Arthur.

"It… will spread, and as it spreads, you will lose yourself… if it spreads to your chest and reaches your heart, then your body will become host to it's evil…and you will destroy the world… with your own hands." He said finally, he hoped that if he made it sound clinical enough, it wouldn't nearly be as horrific as it sounded. However, this didn't seem to assure either Francis or Alfred.

"Are you positive? Could it be a different dagger or something?" Francis said, in a flurry of concern.

"I am certain." He replied, he quickly tried to come to a positive, so as Alfred didn't ponder on it unnecessarily. "So the solution to the problem is simple. We retrieve the dagger, we store it back in the box and seal it so it cannot be opened again and I shall keep it safe, buried far away from prying hands. Does anyone have any questions?"

Alfred raised his hand shakily. Arthur was shocked and frankly a little disturbed at Alfred's sheepish behaviour. "Go on Alfred." He said quietly, trying (really hard) not to be a horrible person.

"I…Will I be okay?" he said, his voice was shaking slightly. Arthur hadn't heard him like this since he was a young boy. He was stunned for a moment, and didn't know how to respond.

"We…we will try our best for you Alfred, so try not to worry too much alright?" Arthur said, trying to sound as gentle as possible. "We're going to be heading off to Paris tomorrow… nice and early, so please don't worry, just get some sleep and we'll sort things out… we'll set things right."

"I'll try not to Arthur." He said quietly, he rose to his feet slowly. "I think I'm going to turn in-"

"Goodnight… if it makes you feel any better the mark won't spread as quickly when you're asleep-" Arthur said, taking a whiskey stiffly and then passing the empty glass to Alfred. "Here… take this back to the bar for me… and get some rest… " he said, with the most charming smile he could summon.

Alfred nodded weakly, as if the severity of the situation had finally caught up with him, he walked off in a daze.

"Bonne Nuite mon ami." Francis added, trying his best to reassure the distraught American who slowly made his way out of the pub area. "Take care of yourself." He smiled.

"Thanks… I'll try." Alfred smiled at Francis and then left the room. Arthur scowled angrily at being 'fobbed off' whereas Francis got a 'thanks'.

"And you tried really 'ard to be nice to 'im then… didn't you?" Francis snickered. "I might be broke… but at least I'm appreciated."

"Shut up Francis, no one likes a show off." Arthur snarked as he finished another shot and stormed off to the bar, Francis was just about to take a cigarette out, until he was met with some horrible glances. He then remembered that sadly, it was illegal to smoke inside. Arthur returned to the table with four shots and another pint.

"Thanks Arthur- sometimes you can be a-"

"This one is for you…" Arthur handed just one of the shots over. "The rest is for me."

Francis smiled lazily as he looked at Arthur, who seemed troubled and irritated. "A little nervous mon ami?"

"I cannot express the severity of the situation. We must destroy this thing… as soon as possible." Arthur polished off two shots immediately. He seemed unusually anxious.

"You speak as if you know more about this than you are letting on-" Francis began cautiously, watching Arthur finish off his second shot. "Are you frightened?"

"Alfred has a good heart deep down. I know he can resist the darkness that is in that dagger for a while… I don't think… that you or I would fare so well." Arthur paused. "I fear of what that dagger would do through me if it were to take hold of me… and what it may yet do to him. We cannot let it fall into the wrong hands," Arthur took a heavy breath and stopped drinking. "But… We both know that I have a terrible weakness for treasure Francis… you have to help me."

"I become worried when you say things like that… it's not your style… me 'elping you?" Francis looked perturbed at Arthur's seriousness, he wasn't the tiniest bit tipsy either, yet he seemed to be shaking ever so slightly. There was a long awkward pause between the two of them finally Arthur broke the silence. Francis braced himself for a verbal assault, but was surprised when it didn't arrive.

"Go and get another drink Francis… it might calm your nerves." Arthur said shortly.

"I don't think I'm the one who needs to calm my nerves." Francis said slowly as he stood up and walked to the bar. As he left Arthur looked into the fire, trying to contemplate what would be the best course of action.

'_What are you going to do Master?'_

A small voice chirped, it was one of Arthur's fairy friends throwing in a rather unwelcome question. They usually only asked him questions he didn't know the answer to, just to tease him.

'_Arthur? Come on!'_Another commented.

_What are you going to do?'_

Arthur tried to occupy his thoughts with other things, so he could ignore the chattering of his sprite like friends. Arthur had always had problems with trying to block out the voices of magical creatures. Unfortunately for him, by their magical nature, they seemed to be everywhere he went, and unless he was with others, they seemed to fill his thoughts and distract him quite a lot, although he had gotten used to it a little, they would occasionally become very noisy, usually out of spite.

'_I plan to make sure that Alfred's safe.' _He thought in reply to their questions.

'_Oh… him…' _one of the voices sounded displeased with this. _'The one who left?'_

Luckily, Francis joined Arthur again, with a bottle of wine, quite clearly for himself. He poured himself a glass and sighed. "So it's going to be 'magic' time for you?"

"I'm afraid so." Arthur said, now nursing his beer as oppose to downing it, like he had done with all his other drinks.

"So will I get to see these fairy friends of yours? I've been curious about them for so long." Francis said with a slight smile, but there was something of a teasing quality about it.

Arthur seemed eager to change the subject. "So what do you offer to this team Francis? Why would you agree to help Alfred with this mission of his?... I mean you're as cowardly as they come-"

"Well I only offered to help make the film mon ami, things just got out of control-" Francis was quickly interrupted.

"But you could have just got a plane home as soon as the trouble kicked up… or decided not to bother helping… it would hardly be a first…"Arthur sounded suspicious.

"I wanted to add some finesse to the proceedings." Francis joked.

"And?" Arthur sounded unconvinced.

"I can stop you… if you go too far...I know that sometimes you can get a little carried away with your magic… let's not forget some of your more turbulent periods of 'istory… what with you being an ex-delinquent and all-" Francis said with a slightly more threatening lilt, that caused Arthur to look him in the eyes and scowl, Francis then closed his eyes and smiled. "Don't worry mon ami… I 'ave my uses." He said. Arthur was left startled by Francis' spontaneous and incomprehensible changes of behaviour; he looked at Francis' glass.

"Maybe… you know more about this than I do." Arthur looked troubled. Was Francis' cluelessness some subterfuge? Did he really know more about this dagger than _he _was letting on?

"Why are we going to Paris? I'm not complaining… but I am curious." Francis asked smiling.

"There… are places in Paris… that will be useful to us." Arthur said cryptically. "Places… I prepared a long time ago…"

"Ohhh… you're so mysterious mon ami! It makes me giddy with anticipation..."


	7. Chapter 7

_Hello everyone, thanks for the kind faves and reviews, you're all super! I do regret to say that after this chapter the updates won't be as regular (as in everyday)… I'll try and do one chapter every couple of days now… but waaa I'm sorry… work and all. So it's Halloween tomorrow, which brings me to my next point…_

_So Arthur's brothers are going to feature in this chapter, it's not in Hetalia canon, but it kind of works. Hope you like it (I know in the dub he's called Britain… but he's England really… I mean his brothers are mentioned as Scotland, Wales etc)... Wondering why this'll link to Halloween? You'll see. Enjoy chaps! _

"Hey Alfred?" Matthew said, slowly picking up the phone, surprised that his brother had even called. "Is something the matter?" he was half watching the TV, and half talking on the phone. "Have you annoyed someone again?"

"Matthew?" Alfred's voice was absent of its usual joy and abandon, it quivered over the phone line. "Are you alone?"

"Er… yeah I'm alone… Alfred… what's wrong?" Matthew's concern rose, as even over a weak phone line, his brother didn't sound like his usual cheerful self. "Where are you?"

"I'm in England… with Francis…" his voiced sounded muffled, as if he was speaking in secret.

"Right… ?" Matthew wasn't quite sure why this alone would trouble his brother so much.

"Remember when you said I was making that documentary?" he stammered.

Alfred stammering frightening Matthew, his brother was rarely scared (except when it came to horror films), but he could tell by Alfred's tone, it was something far more serious than that.

"Yeah… wasn't it about treasure or something like that?" Matthew started. "About that mysterious buyer at auction houses right… ? It was on the news recently… and when I saw that someone was going to make a documentary about it… I figured out it'd be you…"

"Yeah… so I researched into the kind of items he buys… It's funny some of the items are worthless… but others are practically priceless… yet his name is coming up again and again…so I thought I'd try and find out the next item he might be buying…" Alfred explained, his breath was short, as if he was in fear of his very life.

"Yuh… I got that much…And?" Matthew

"I picked something up… a lead on an item this buyer wanted…I went to the auction house… and opened the box…" Alfred's voice broke over the phone and his voice began to shake. "I- I'm scared that I let this evil out… but it's infected my body… and… I'm going to do something horrible."

"Woah…Alfred… what is all this about really? What are you talking about evil and stuff for?" Matthew said gently, trying to calm his brother down, "Come on…tell me everything."

So Alfred told Matthew the entire story from beginning to end. Matthew was horrified, but also sympathetic to his brother.

"Oh my God Matthew… I'm so scared… it's spreading up my arm… and I can't do anything about it-" he sounded as if he was going to cry. "Shit… what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know Alfred… but you've gotta not panic… I don't know anything about magic… or evil consciousness' or anything… but surely being calm has got to help right?"

"I didn't mean to Matthew! I didn't mean to do any harm." Alfred struggled to not cry.

"You never do Al." Matthew sighed. "Right… Well I guess that settles it… I'm coming over…"

"Whu-" Alfred began.

"You're in trouble… more trouble than you can handle… and it sounds like it has universal consequences… what kind of brother would I be if I didn't come over?" Matthew said. As he pulled his suitcase off the top of his wardrobe and started to pack.

"Are you serious?" Alfred said, with an obvious glee creeping into his voice. "You're gonna come over just for me?"

"Well… not just for you." Matthew said. "I don't want the world to end next week… I know that Francis has got me a great Christmas present in the form of a snowboard…I don't want to the world to blow up before I get it-" he lied. He was getting the snow board, but it was more that he wanted to be with his brother. It's not like they were best buddies or anything like that, but Matthew couldn't justify leaving his brother to be so upset, and maybe Matthew might be the hero for once… it was worth a shot.

"Well… we're going to Paris tomorrow morning I think."

"So I should just get the next flight to Paris…" Matthew said, he was keeping it together rather well.

"Well… just… as soon as you can get there would be great."

"Well I'll ring Francis now and sort out some travel arrangements." Matthew said simply, he was good at keeping his cool when his brother was falling apart. If he wasn't so stuck in the moment of being cool, he would have been ridiculously happy.

"Thanks Bro… you don't know how much this means to me…" Alfred said.

"No problem… just take care of yourself… promise?" Matthew said finally. "If you give in before I get there I'll be massively unimpressed."

"I won't." Alfred smiled weakly. "Bye Matthew… see you soon."

"Goodbye Alfred… and I mean it… take care." Matthew put the phone down and immediately called Francis.

"Can you 'elp him?" Francis asked,

"Perhaps…But… it does strange… and perverse things…"

"As in?"

"The mark that is now on Alfred is a curse mark… it shows how the evil within the dagger is affecting him." Arthur looked pensive. "It preys on the weaknesses of it's host... and offer a 'solution' to the problem… it will chip away at his consciousness…It can appear in many forms… a stronger version of the host, a lover… a trusted friend… anything that is tempting…"

"So…" Francis was eager for Arthur to continue but was interrupted mid-comment by his mobile phone going off. He picked up. "Salute? Matthew! Ca va?" he began excited. He then put his hand on the phone mic and looked at Arthur. "I'm going to talk to Matthew for a while-" Francis sauntered into the distance with a smile on his face speaking in extremely fast French.

Arthur sighed heavily. "Well how bloody rude… still I suppose it's to be expected." He said stuffily as he leaned back into his chair.

As the minutes turned into an hour Arthur began to become horrendously bored. He did have a mobile phone, but didn't believe in messing around with it in his spare time. That's what stupid mindless teenagers did on buses in his opinion (although his opinion is completely wrong).

Francis finally came back. Arthur was rather angry, but decided not to show it, he tried to be the better man in the proceedings.

"So mon ami… how is the government?" Francis smirked.

Arthur winced, he wouldn't mind being the better man, but it was sometimes damn difficult when the other gentleman was Francis, and Francis delighted in being an insufferable arrogant swine. "Horrendous…"

"Planning for a re-election are we?" Francis smiled.

"… There are only so many times you can re-arrange the deckchairs on the Titanic." Arthur replied curtly. "It'll take more than a re-election to sort things out… it doesn't seem to matter which of the parties are in power, they all seem to be complete idiots if you ask me."

"… Well… we'll see…" Francis flipped his phone closed. "That talk with Matthew was revealing… apparently Alfred confessed his fear to him… and it stirred Matthew so much that he's catching the next plane to Paris… That's rather forward for someone as easy going and unobtrusive as Matthew… Alfred must have been quite frightened…" Francis said succinctly.

" It makes sense." Arthur said. "For someone who is petrified of something he cannot feel or control, the idea of being possessed by a ghost-like entity must be petrifying."

"… Mmm… that is true." Francis answered.

Arthur's ears pricked. He looked to one side and seemed to be listening to someone, or something talking to him, his eyes slowly rolled towards Francis again. "Apparently… This dagger travels quickly… it's changed hands…and it's in…Italy…" his voice drifted as he finished the sentence. "Oh God… that means that it's up to Veneziano to intercept it and bring it to Paris … Good Lord this is looking hopeless."

"Impossible!" Francis declared loudly. "It's only 1 in the morning now! We had it in London at 11? How could it have gotten to Italy so quickly? I mean it's perfectly possible but still it's all a bit quick-"

"I'm sure that a rabid collector would easily be able to make the trip... I had a ridiculously high bid on the object and the bidders were from all over the world… it's quite possible that someone was hanging around at the auction house waiting for a miracle" Arthur said, snapping out of his dream-like daze and becoming sharp. "But what they got was… considerable less than that…"

"But surely they'd celebrate their success and stay in London for a while?- I mean… it's a very short trip-"

"Extreme evil can push a man to extreme things." Arthur said finally.

"What… you believe it… because some fairy told you all of this?" Francis spat angrily. "It's too soon! We won't be able to stop it in time if we are flying to Paris tomorrow!"

"Calm down Francis!" Arthur began speaking French rather than English, he smirked at Francis' panic. "We don't need you going off the bloody handle as well-"

Francis slapped Arthur, it shocked everyone in the bar, but no one was more shocked than Arthur. "Wha-?"

"You're _enjoying _this now?" Francis shouted back in French. "You're _enjoying _the fact we could all be dead next week?... You're whispering away to your fairy friends… do you think that makes me respect you? You're panic mongering is just… just pathetic! But… you've always been like that Arthur… chatting away with the fairies because they are the only ones who can stand your… ridiculous attitude- I'm going to bed!"

He stormed out of the bar. Leaving everyone staring at Arthur, he did not seem to enjoy the attention, but was almost immobilised by the surprisingly hurtful slap on his face. He was tempted to follow Francis and explain that he was only trying to help, but sighed heavily, he wasn't in the wrong here, why should he explain himself? Pathetic indeed, he wasn't the pathetic one… not really.

'_Of course you're pathetic.'_

Arthur froze, his entire body began to shake… that voice… that voice was…

'_You don't remember me Arthur?... It's Scotland… !'_

'_Ala-st-air…' _Even mentally, Arthur seemed to stumble over the name of his elder brother.

' _I suppose you don't remember Wales… or Ireland's either?...Perhaps it's shock? It has been a long time since I've been able to talk to you…but I suppose it's that dagger… rearing it's ugly head again…it's put the fear into you… fear enough that you can hear me-'_

As frightened as Arthur was, he decided he should probably leave the bar. Although he didn't want to be alone with Alastair, he certainly didn't want more people thinking he was lunatic when he began to talk to himself.

'…_I can feel you trembling… and it's so funny… it's so… typical of you brother…now that Britannia's gone… you really are a useless pathetic nation... But here were are…You the face of Britain… and us the demons in your head… the other countries… why did we have to unify Arthur? Who decided that?...'_

'_Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!' _Arthur thought angrily. _'As if I don't have enough to deal with now with __it __being back?'_

As Arthur stormed to the lift, he looked in the mirrors that surrounded him, his brother was there, in the reflection... in every reflection, as if he was stood right next to Arthur, he recognised that flaming red hair and those piercing green eyes, not to mention the fixed crooked grin. He was wearing the same blue and white clothing he had done since… well since the last time they met…before he disappeared.

'_And when are you going to tell them… about __your __ involvement with the dagger little brother?' _Alastair smirked as his brother's expression became more petrified by the second.

'…' Arthur looked away from the mirror and didn't speak.

'_Ignoring me? How childish… how very like you…'_

Arthur trembled as he felt a hand ruffle his hair aggressively, he turned around slowly, praying that his brother hadn't somehow come back… as something more than a ghost, but his brother wasn't in the lift with him.

'_Alastair… We… can't talk now… I have things I have to do…I'll tell them about the dagger another time-'_

The phantasm punched the mirror that was directly next to Arthur, which made the fair haired man jump. _'WHEN WILL YOU TELL THEM ABOUT YOU'RE RELATIONSHIP WITH THAT DAGGER? HOW IS TURNED YOU INTO A LUNATIC! HOW YOU WENT PILLAGING AND PLUNDERING THE SEVEN OCEANS! AND CONDEMNED YOUR OWN BROTHERS TO A LIFE OF INCARARATION IN YOUR HEAD?' _

'_NOT NOW ALASTAIR!' _Arthur finally summoned the courage to speak up. When he blinked his brother's reflection had gone and the lift doors opened, and Arthur left, his breath haggered, and his mind troubled. He was perturbed by his brother's sudden reappearance in his mind after a long absence.

'_The more you use your magic… and rely on your little fairy friends… the more you'll hear me…'_

'_That's all I'll do… hear you… you're just a ghost… you don't have any power over me.' _Arthur thought angrily as he opened his room door.

'_Oh Arthur… I thought you'd know better than to slight a ghost-' _

After this, Arthur felt his presence disappear from his mind.He went to his room and fell back onto the bed, closing his eyes and trying to regain some composure. He almost instantly fell asleep. But the suddenness and heaviness of his slumber was nothing short of suspicious.


	8. Chapter 8

_Okay this is a short chapter… but I had to post this on Halloween… I just had to… thanks again for everyone who has favourited recently! I can't believe how many favourites this has got ;) Thanks guys. Also I've quoted Abraham Lincoln… I hope this doesn't offend anyone (I don't know why it would… but I'll say it anyway)._

Alfred awoke in total darkness. He wasn't in the dreams he had grown accustom to. He could see nothing, he could hear nothing, and everything around him was like a void, a void that he appeared to be trapped in. He looked around. "Hey…Arthur? Are you here?"

There was no response, Alfred wasn't sure why Arthur would have been the first person he would shout for anyway, perhaps it was because he was... well… his big brother… kind of…sort of. Or maybe it was because he knew that if anyone could help him get out of this mess, it would be him. Alfred, tried to navigate and walk around, but with no landmarks or anything to hold onto to help him, he was stumped, he was stumbling around in the dark, no better than a blind child.

Alfred's mind worked overtime as he quite clearly remembered Arthur talking about evil consuming him... but Alfred didn't really know how it would consume him… would it be a quick clean blow? Or would it be something more tortuous. He tried to think over the words that him, Francis and Arthur said in the bar again and again… but nothing new presented itself.

Alfred wasn't the smartest nation, but he knew for a fact that he had a good heart, all he ever wanted was peace for everyone, he wanted everyone to be as happy as he was. He also knew that he wanted to be free, liberty was of paramount importance to him. With these ideals intact he knew he would be okay. He closed his eyes and tried to think of the things he knew were truly important:

'_If we cannot give freedom to every creature, [then] let us do nothing that will impose upon another creature …We expect the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant wiser, and all better and happier together. Let it be as nearly reached as we can. For the struggle of today is not altogether for today. It is for the vast future also-'_

Alfred felt galvanized by the words from his past, the words that had shaped him as a nation and tried to walk ahead and figure a way out of this mess.

But he walked for what seemed like hours and seemed no better off than he was to start with, he was becoming exhausted too. He was weary and feeling hopeless… the words that seemed so strong in his head had gone and were replaced with the fear that he might not be able to get out of this darkness. He was about ready to collapse… but then… he heard a faint voice.

"Are you alright? Can you hear me?…"

Alfred's eyes opened very slowly, his lids felt heavy, as if he could barely keep them open. "I…can" he struggled to speak, it was as if the darkness was sapping all his strength away, try as he may, he couldn't seem to keep it together.

"You can hear me? That's good… that's very good." The voice sneered, yet Alfred couldn't read this malicious tone, he was simply too tired. "I mean… I'm relieved…" the voice continued. "What's your name?"

"Who?-" Alfred felt like his very voice was being stolen from him in the presence… of whatever it was that was talking to him. "Am…America…Who…are you?"

"You know me… don't you?" the voice answered, it had a familiarity to it, but Alfred couldn't established who it belonged to, and it was barely above a whisper.

"I don't…" his words slurred. "I recognise your voice…kind of…It's kind of…like mine…"

"That's right… you recognise my voice… you should do…"

America felt his eyes become even heavier, his eyes seemed to go cloudier and cloudier and his mind seemed to becoming less and less functional, he desperately tried to keep the conversation going. "Have we met?"

"In a manner of speaking… Don't worry yourself with that now… Tell me why you think you're here?" the voice asked, it had a perverse quality about it, it made Alfred feel frightened, but he could not describe the fear... it was instinctual.

"I-…don't know-I…I don't want to be here… I think I'm here by accident-" he mumbled. He was frozen to the spot, he couldn't move, he felt as if something was holding his feet to the floor.

"No no…America… you are meant to be here… you are here because you're destined for great things…"

"I'm already great-" the young man's words became more and more clumsy. He felt as if he was falling asleep. The rigidness had spread through his legs and was slowly coming up his body.

"Great?… I don't believe that word is in your name… is it?" The voice answered matter of factly, "Not like _him _he's been Great for about as long as I can remember…Great Britain… he isn't great at all! He's just some…_washed up has been-_"

Had Alfred been more alert, he probably would have taken account of the fact that the voice was suddenly starting to sound a lot like him, using his mannerisms, his turn of phases."No- I guess it isn't… but I don't see why it matters…I like my name the way it is-" Alfred mumbled to himself, not knowing who to address the comment to.

"Why settle with just 'the United States of America'?… You could be so much more! You could be… _the _world power…"

"_The _world power?" Alfred said with confusion present in his voice. "But… there can't be _one _world power…"

"With my help you could have that power… you could easily take over this planet, out of all the countries, I'm sure _you'd _be the one who could do it-"

"But I don't want to-" Alfred said slowly, feeling less coherent with every few words he spoke. He now felt as if he was being held down by some force that couldn't be seen "I-"

"Just think of it…. Uniting humanity under one flag… achieving the ultimate truce… worldwide peace… how… _heroic_ does that sound?-I mean… you could save…_everyone…_That's what you've always wanted-" the voice smirked, it seemed to be coping fine in this environment where Alfred was struggling to function.

"But people… what if they don't want to-" Alfred started, losing the will to argue as he started to become scared by his lack of mobility.

"You want peace don't you?" the voice said, in an almost admonishing fashion. "You're fear is holding you back America… it's going to keep you stuck in the dark."

"Of course I want peace but-" Alfred began. ".Wh-…Why can't I move?"

"I can help you achieve peace…think of how indebted everyone would be to you… when it's all over…It's what you were _destined _to do… free humanity from injustice…"

"But… No one would agree-" Alfred mumbled. "Wh…What's going on?... I'm scared…"

"Then you will have to persuade them to agree… won't you?...Come on America… you're not giving yourself enough credit… I'm sure they'd be persuaded by you…or maybe… you need me to help you?" the voice added.

"No!" Alfred blurted, as if he suddenly realized he was being pulled into the darkness. He tried to fight the darkness swamping him, but it was proving far too difficult. He let out a scream. "Oh God… Help me!"

"Let's join together then… you and me…we'll refashion the world together…Unite the world under your flag…"

Alfred felt himself failing, he was scared, he didn't know what to do. This voice…or whatever it was, seemed to be coping fine in this environment, maybe it could save him from falling into the darkness… but was the voice to be trusted? He was too frightened to think properly, his gut instinct took over. He put his hand out, despite himself. "HELP ME!"

Just as it was about to grasp him, another voice interrupted.

"Alright that's enough… when you've finished feeding him poisoned advice you might want to leave… He's well protected."

"Arthur?" Alfred seemed shocked, and whole heartedly relieved. "It's you! In my dream? Is it really you?"

"ALFRED! WHAT IN GOD'S NAME DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" Arthur shouted. "I thought you valued freedom you dolt! Uniting everyone under your flag doesn't sound like liberty to me!"

"I…I was scared damnit!" Alfred tried to justify himself. This wasn't his mind playing another trip on him was it? In any case, an Arthur in his mind couldn't be a bad thing, it couldn't be worse than this… evil presence so he was willing to trust him.

"Don't let the darkness turn a thought that's so noble… into something so evil… don't let greed…poison you…You're such a good man... that's what evil does to good men… it presents them with goodness and turns it into wickedness…"

Alfred's breath was shaking as Arthur spoke. "Arthur…you're talking like you know about this- I mean as if… this has happened to you before…"

Arthur took a deep breath and began to murmur rapidly. In an instant Alfred was gone from the darkness. Arthur was alone… except he wasn't alone…

"England!" The voice roared furiously. "HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE WITH MY AFFAIRS!"

"…Well Well… it's been a long time…Britannia…"


	9. Chapter 9

_Arthur never did tell me about that dream he had. I don't know… I suppose it must have been something so terrible that he didn't want to share it… well that's what I thought at first, but actually, it's a lot more tender than that. I couldn't give you an accurate account of what happened in it, but I can only assume that Britannia either did or said some very awful things to him. Things that… Arthur wouldn't have liked me to know about, maybe he was frightened that I'd think he was weak… I know that sounds a bit out of character for Arthur, in some ways, but really… it's him all over... still trying to look like our big brother…yeesh… when will he learn? Alfred however, was more than happy to tell me about what happened in his dream in a rather thorough fashion… and what happened afterwards…so the story continues…_

Alfred woke up like a shot. He was breathing heavily, and could remember most of the frightening details of the dream he had just had…well he hoped it was a dream, and it wasn't some form of alternate reality or something like that…

No... must have been a dream. Sometimes even Alfred despaired at the crazy things his brain came out with… but at the moment, those crazy thoughts were comforting, because it meant that he was still himself, and evil hadn't taken over him. He went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face… and try to get over himself and calm down a bit. He looked in the mirror, and then, without a moment's hesitation, checked his arm, the mark had not grown while he was asleep, much to his relief, but he was petrified of what had happened in his dream, not because it was scary in itself, but because of how persuasive the evil was, and how close he was to taking the darkness by both hands himself, of his own free will. He took a huge breath and shook his head… No…now wasn't the time to be thinking about it. He should do something…anything to take his mind of it… turn on the TV…yeah…that'd distract him.

Some time had past… perhaps a couple of hours, he had found some American TV programme on, it was easy to watch and cheered him up a bit, it was comforting to know that a US sitcom had the desired effect on his mood and made him feel like home wasn't that far away. After that he had dozed for a short time, something occurred to him. Arthur had been in his dream… what had happened to him? Arthur managed to save Alfred somehow, but that involved Arthur talking to that evil presence instead… and… at the end he said something… something… really…weird…but that was the only thing Alfred couldn't remember, the thing he said. Alfred was in two minds to go to his room right now… to check if he was alright… even if it was about 4am in the morning. He nodded and galvanized himself. He got out of bed and went to Arthur's door, but was hesitant to knock…it was unlikely that if Arthur was awake, that he would be happy to see Alfred.

"Come on Alfred…nobody lives forever." He muttered to himself as he knocked on the door.

"Not now." Arthur's voice replied curtly, it sounded muffled through the door.

"Geez you gotta be kidding me! OF ALL THE UNGRATFUL LITTLE- I was only checking to see if you were okay buddy!" Alfred banged on the door.

"God sake Alfred stop causing a commotion!" Arthur replied, he came to the door, but left the chain lock on as he spoke through the tiny crack in the door. "I'm busy."

"BUSY AT 4AM? HOW ARE YOU BUSY?"

"Come in and shut up!" Arthur ushered Alfred in as soon as he put the lock off the door and then sealed the door shut.

Alfred was about to let out a sigh of relief until he took a good look at Arthur's room.

The floor was covered in what appeared to be sugar in an…odd looking symbol… there was an ancient looking book on the bed and the lights were dimmed, there was also a green candle on the desk.

"DUDE…WHAT IS ALL THIS STUFF!" Alfred exclaimed, shocked by the display.

"It's…a summoning ritual…" Arthur sneered. "I wouldn't expect you to understand it's complicated-."

"Woahh… you used sugar?" Alfred sounded a bit disappointed. "I thought you might use…I don't know…blood… or…black powder or…something a bit more…errr…how do I put this… magical?"

"Those things stain Alfred… I refuse to pay for any repairs…besides… there was plenty of sugar available… I simply went to reception and asked for a box full." Arthur said.

Alfred could now understand why the staff at the hotel thought he was weird… even Alfred thought he was weird.

"I don't have time for idle chatter… so sit…and be silent… or this spell could go _horribly _wrong." Arthur replied.

"What are you even summoning!" Alfred asked. "Is it gonna be like… a familiar… like I don't know… in… Charmed?"

"Do you hear the words that come out of your mouth Alfred?" Arthur shook his head and began to chant. "_I call thee forth…oh spirit from the land of the dead…that you heed my call and hark to my cry… bring yourself to my sight and let your spirit be under my command…I name thee…_ _Borussia__!"_

Alfred gasped as purple smoke began to billow from the sugar on the floor and the candle burst into green flames… but then something happened that Alfred did not expect.

"Waaaaoohhh! Check this out! You look like you're summoning a devil!"

"?" Alfred was mightily confused… this voice was coming from nowhere, he couldn't see anything, but could hear a heavily accented European voice… Or more accurately…German… also the voice wasn't speaking in the olde English he had kind of come to expect from the films he'd watched where people were summoned back from the dead… this voice sounded…kind of awesome actually.

"Gilbert… stop being irritating and show yourself please."

With that the spirit of Gilbert (or Prussia if you like) appeared out of the smoke and into the summoning circle. He was an imposing figure, he had silver hair that was short and well maintained and red eyes that seemed full of life for someone who wasn't alive.

Alfred randomly burst into applause at the spectacle he's just witnessed. "Geez…that's incredible!" Alfred said. "It's…Prussia right? Dude! That was amazing!"

"I think you'll find it was Arthur who did all the cool stuff then… though… my awesome presence merits applause so-"

"Ahh yes… you will not have had the pleasure of getting to know Gilbert intimately have you Alfred…" Arthur then looked at Gilbert with his eyebrows knitted in uncertainty. "We need your help."

"Who doesn't? I mean-" Gilbert started.

"I'm being serious." Arthur began

"I know… don't think I can't see what's going on 'round here…" Gilbert shrugged. "Just 'cause my nation is gone doesn't mean I don't know what goes on on earth!"

"Wh-wait…a minute… are you telling me…Prussia is…a ghost?" Alfred said. "I guess he _did_ kind of… disappear-"

"1947…" Gilbert replied. "What a shit year -"

"As polite and mild-mannered as ever Gilbert..." Arthur found himself shaking his head again. "And I had heard so many good things about Prussian virtues…To the point… "

Gilbert wore a strange smile on his face as Arthur became serious. Alfred thought better of all the 'Harry Potter' references he could have made and decided not to speak.

"A great evil has come into the world…and I need your help." Arthur said non-chanlantly.

"Is it dangerous?" Gilbert's grin widened.

"Oh certainly." Arthur replied.

"Count me in…"

"Of course… I will give you…your human form back for the purpose of-"

"EHHHHH? FOR REAL? YOU CAN DO THAT?" Gilbert exclaimed.

"For a limited time… will you be quiet for God's sake Gilbert? People sleep in hotels you know!" Arthur murmured.

"HOW LONG FOR?" Gilbert apparently didn't know how to whisper and continued to yell.

"About a week… if we can't get it sorted in that time… I think we'll all be joining you in the place where nations go when we aren't around anymore." Arthur replied.

"Y to the E to the S!"

Arthur and Alfred stared blankly at Gilbert who also did a victory punch.

"What's wrong you guys?" Gilbert smirked with an excitable energy.

"I wasn't aware we'd taken a timewarp at the same time as summoning you." Arthur said. "Please keep your outdated cliché mannerisms to yourself."

"Gosh… the nineties came flooding back for a minute then." Alfred said, he looked pained as his hand went down his face

"Could be the end of the world? Our heroes turn to Mister Awesome in their moment of need? This is fricking sweet!" Gilbert said.

"No Gilbert… it is the very antithesis of 'sweet'… but I'm not inclined to argue… so…" Arthur cut his hand very slightly with his nail and winced as he did so, he bled very slightly and put his hand into the summoning circle. "Do we have a deal?"

Gilbert clapsed Arthur's hand tightly…and as he did, he felt himself become flesh and blood, life started to seep became into him as the parts of Arthur's summoning ritual disappeared. At first he toed his way out of the summoning circle to check he didn't disappear into a puff of smoke. When he didn't he victory punched into the air (again).

Alfred's mouth dropped as he watched the sugar disappear into nothingness, the candle blow out and Gilbert come to life. He looked around the room…and it didn't have a weird green glow or purple mist. He was stunned. Arthur didn't looked slightly phased and carried on talking.

"Now let me explain in detail what I need you to do… This great evil is contained within a dagger and this dagger has a powerful hold over all who hold or possess it, even the most morally sound of people would eventually succumb to it's power…well…anyone who is living of course… but you see Gilbert you're _different_ as you're technically a spirit… a spirit under my control with a temporary form, which means it can't tempt you… you are impervious to its effects… you can fight against this evil… and anything it summons in defence…"

"SO I'M GONNA BE LIKE…AN AWESOME SAVIOUR?" Gilbert exclaimed.

"I wouldn't put it like that exactly…" Arthur then realized that Gilbert probably wasn't going to wait for Arthur's answer. "You'll be happy to know that Francis will be accompanying us on our travels."

"Are you kidding me?" Gilbert said.

Arthur sighed heavily. "Why would I say it if I was kidding?" Arthur was now slightly regretful that he'd used sugar to summon Gilbert… he wished he could have used something to increase his intelligence… sugar would only make Gilbert more hyper than he already was and it was going to be like this the entire time Gilbert was here, he would ask stupid questions and repeat the most obvious statements.

"SWEEEEETTTTTT."

"Gilbert just how do you know all these modern idioms?" Alfred asked, a little happy to have another upbeat person join their crew, rather than Francis and Arthur.

"I told you…I've been keeping my eyes and my ears open on the world." Gilbert smiled. "Thought I'd keep the lingo up just incase I ever came back… and geez am I glad I did now."

Alfred then made a sudden short gasp noise, and became stiff, his body began to become tense. He struggled to exhale and seemed to be stuck in between gasping for breath and letting air out. Gilbert looked totally puzzled by this odd reaction. "I'm not that out of touch am I?"

Arthur didn't miss a beat, he went over and took Alfred's arm, the mark was growing, slowly up his arm. Arthur couldn't understand what had brought this on, such a sudden and unprovoked spurt of growth was not appreciated at this time. "What's the matter Alfred?" Arthur whispered into his ear, gently, in an almost parental fashion. "Tell me what's wrong… It's me… It's Arthur… please… tell me what's wrong."

At first there was no reaction, Alfred did nothing at all, except gasped and made an ungodly noise. The panic of Arthur's face was obvious, he continued whispering, rather rapidly now. "Alfred… please… I know you can hear me… you need to snap out of this daze… you need to tell me…what's happening."

Gilbert was a little bit star struck by Arthur's nice behaviour and didn't really know what to do. No intelligent comments came into his head, and thought that opening his mouth and spouting his usual awesome comments would not help matters at all.

"…S-S…Someone else…has it…" Alfred said, with a haggard voice. "Someone has the dagger… another…one of us…"

Arthur's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up as if they were on strings. "…Who Alfred? Do you know who?"

"…I…I…I…" Alfred stuttered.

"You…?" Arthur began.

"No…I…." Alfred's body shook almost uncontrollably. "He…He shouldn't have it…It's…It's…dangerous…"

"…Has '_he'_ touched it Alfred?" Arthur looked into Alfred eyes, and became serious. Arthur's eyes flashed for an instant and he put his hands on Alfred's face, he didn't break eye contact with the American and continued to stare into his eyes. At this Alfred seemed to go limp, his tension disappeared and he stared blankly ahead. It was obvious that Arthur's gaze had put Alfred into some trance that had calmed him down. Gilbert tried not to make a 'freaking out' noise (in his own words).

"No… he hasn't." Alfred answered emotionlessly, it didn't sound right for the young man to sound so monotone.

"Who is this '_he' _Alfred? Is it Italy?" Arthur's hands became tense on Alfred's face, as if his concentration was being tested by something in Alfred's head that he was struggling to control.

"Italy…he's…with Germany though…the dagger wants Germany…it wants him to touch it…like it wanted me to touch it…like it wants you to touch it-" Alfred's blank stare seemed to be backfiring somewhat, Arthur couldn't tell if this was Alfred… or whether it was the evil force influencing him.

Arthur and Gilbert both bolted still at this remark. Gilbert because he didn't expect it, and Arthur because he didn't expect it coming from Alfred's lips.

"It wants me the most though… you're too old…Arthur Kirkland…it doesn't want you anymore… but it knows… you will try and stop it…if it doesn't control you then you might…"

"Wake up Alfred!" Arthur shut his eyes tightly and squeezed Alfred's face slightly. He then let go in an instant.

Alfred blinked and came completely to his senses, he was no longer tense or distressed in anyway. He smiled at Gilbert and said. "You're lingo is pretty impressive Gilbert!" It seemed that Alfred had no idea what had just happened to him and had had a mental blank as soon as the dagger's influence started to affect his body.

Arthur was keen to allow Alfred have his freedom when he had it, and not bring up something he could do nothing except fret about… and that was just about anything to do with the dagger. "Come along Alfred… time you went back to bed… we have to be up very shortly… you might as well try and nap between now and then."

"Oh…Yeah…you're right Artie!" Alfred smiled. "Guess now that Gilbert's here this'll all be sorted pretty soon!... See you soon guys!" he turned on his heel and closed the door.

"I'm sorry… but…WHAT THE SH-" Gilbert was about to exclaim as Alfred left.

"Shhhhh." Arthur pressed his finger against Gilbert's lips, which seemed to make him incapable of speaking. Arthur went and lay on his bed. "Hush Gilbert… I will explain later… but now I need to rest myself…I'm tired too…"

Before Arthur had finished, he had drifted into sleep. Gilbert smiled. "Alright boss…Goodnight…"


	10. Chapter 10

_Author__comment:_Hi everyone! I have to say I've had some lovely reviews, compliments and faves from people… thank you very much! You've all really kept me going… truth to tell I was never going to publish this story… so glad I did now, everyone seems to be enjoying it… additionally, there was one review that I couldn't reply to… I'm very sorry you've wasted so much paper… I hope I can reimburse you in enjoyment. Thank you everyone who is reading… every favourite and comment makes me happy ;) so enjoy. 3

_As Francis and Arthur had been talking in the bar about the dagger landing in Italy, they couldn't anticipate the rather twee (If not a tad predictable) consequences that ensued. The effects of the dagger have already been explained in quite a lot of detail… it seemed that it's perverse nature could tempt anyone…well…almost anyone._

It had been a long day for Ludwig. The German had been in so many meetings that even he would admit he was getting a tired, when the meetings were done he had shouted at his personal assistant, demanding to know why some of the meetings couldn't have been merged into one, or why they couldn't have been held in the same building. Travelling around the capital was a pain at the best of times. Never mind when it was Christmas and the traffic was horrendous. Such bad organisation often made him irate… His personal assistant had started crying, and it all got rather awkward, he tried to calm her down…saying it wasn't her fault, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being judge. Ludwig was a tall and well built man with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. Some would call his appearance severe, whereas others would simply say he was very 'German' looking. His PA eventually calmed down…and said she would do better next time, but this had involved Ludwig taking her for coffee, buying her dinner and then persuading her not to leave… admitting that his outburst may have been a little extreme.

But the work day was over and it was 11 o'clock at night, Ludwig was sat at home enjoying his own quiet company whilst reading a book and a nice cold beer and nothing could go wrong, but like most of Ludwig's 'quiet evenings' in, it was short lived.

The phone rang… but not just any normal ringtone oh no, Ludwig had assigned a particular ringtone for a particular person who rang far more often than he should have. The ringtone was a rather understated beeping noise. But as he heard it Ludwig winced. He hoped it was a wrong number and the caller would put the phone down…

But no… it kept ringing. With a deep despairing sigh Ludwig took the phone in his hand and very slowly accepted the call by pulling down the accept interface as slowly as possible.

"GERMANY GERMANY!"

"Italy… what is it now?" Ludwig asked.

"Ahhhh Germany! It's not nice!" Veneziano waited for Ludwig to ask for clarification.

Ludwig cringed at the inappropriate word 'nice'. "What does that mean?"

"Something got picked up at border control at Leonardo da Vinci Airport! And they called me to come and check it out… it's some antique thing… I don't really know what it is… but apparently… it was brought in the country in a suspicious way! Like… I don't know the mafia or something! I don't know what to do." Veneziano then repeated that he didn't know what to do several times, then Ludwig interrupted.

"I don't understand why on earth border control would call you." he snapped. "I mean you are the last person I would call when in need of assistance, and surely they know that as well…"

"Well… I don't get it either! But they did!" Veneziano sounded slightly troubled. "They said some British guy had called through and told them to call me."

"Some British guy? That's a completely redundant thing to say if you don't know who the British person is. But that does sound like your lot." Ludwig sighed and rubbed his face in despair.

"Maybe it's Arthur!" Veneziano smiled.

"THEY ARE HUNDRDS OF THOUSANDS OF BRITISH MEN! DON'T BE STUPID ITALY!" Germany yelled down the phone. "IT'S NOT GOING TO BE ARTHUR!"

"It's kind of scared Germany… apparently this British guy said I need to go to Paris… but I don't want to go alone…" Veneziano continued, discarding the insults all together. "If it's not Arthur…it could be a murderer…"

Ludwig made a noise of disapproval. This is what Veneziano's mind was like, if it wasn't Arthur… then it had to be a murderer, or a thief, or a crazy lunatic who hates Italians (all of these were hunches that Italy had said in the past whenever somebody he didn't know called him).

"I'm sorry, I'm not understanding this, you've got some kind of suspicious object… but you don't know _what_ it is…apparently your people got a call from a man… but you don't know where or who _he_is… and you've been told to go to Paris…please tell me you know _where_that is-" Ludwig pinched the ridge of his nose as he could sense a headache coming on.

"…Yep… It's where Francis lives!" Veneziano said brightly.

"Well done Italy." Ludwig mumbled, it wasn't even complete sarcasm; it was something between sarcasm and genuine surprise.

"But Ludwig… I don't know how to describe it… It's like a dagger thing…but it has a weird kind of vibe… it's really scary…It's like an evil magicy thing… I got given it in a plastic bag… but I don't really want to take it out of the bag…"

"Well, don't take it out of the bag then. Problem solved." As Ludwig didn't really understand the power of this dagger or the intimidating air it carried, he thought this was one of Veneziano's typically pathetic comments. "So…You're…?" Ludwig started to look at what things he would need to take with him if he was going to go to Paris… and he knew that he would be going… because Veneziano was that useless that he couldn't possibly do anything on his own.

Veneziano sighed as if impatient. "I'm at border control now at the airport…"

"Yes we've established that." Ludwig murmured sarcastically.

"…but I'm sure I could catch a flight to Paris on my own…" but he didn't sound one hundred percent convinced that he could. But wanted to at least show willing, he could at least kid himself he didn't need Ludwig's help for a little why "…If you tell me exactly what I need to do, how to book at ticket… how to change euros… how to-"

"I'll come over and we'll go together." Ludwig murmured as he had already began to pack his bag,

"YAY! You're the best Ludwig!" Veneziano smiled. "I didn't really think that I would be able to get there on my own!"

"Reserve your judgement for when I see you. I'm going to have to book time off work and everything-" Ludwig started to flick through the pages of his diary, already trying to calculate the number of days he might need to book off… with Italy… it was probably a minimum of three to do anything even vaguely useful, then if they needed to do anything in Paris…that would be be another three for Italy to sort himself out. When he thought about it, he might as well book a week off… Well not 'off' exactly, Ludwig never takes time off, he's just 'out of the office.' Nations shouldn't take time off in his opinion.

"Oh yeah! Me too!" Veneziano smiled. "Maybe I should call my boss…"

"AS IF YOU HADN'T THOUGHT OF THAT ALREADY?" Ludwig shouted.

"Well I don't do anything useful anyway." Veneziano smiled.

"DUMMKOPF! THAT'S HARDLY SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF! ALRIGHT…I'M COMING TO THE AIRPORT. DON'T MOVE! DON'T EVEN GO TO GET A COFFEE. TELL ME WHAT SIGNS ARE NEARBY SO I CAN FIND YOU WHEN I GET THERE AND KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE."

"Well…there is a cute sign of a man with a hat on… he's got a passport in his hand I think… but it's only a pictogram… so maybe it's a book…maybe it's a pizza box… I'm not exactly sure… in fact looking at it… that square shape is too big to be a passport… there's a big exit sign…I think it's a fire exit sign… it's yellow and black and the man looks like he's running really fast-"

"SIGNS WITH WORDS ON ITALY! NOT PICTOGRAMS! I'M LOOKING FOR DIRECTION SIGNS!"

"Ahh…right! How about…Border control…"

"YOU TOLD ME THAT ALREADY!" Ludwig was losing his temper rather quickly.

"Ahh….There's an ice cream cart!" Veneziano smiled. "Yayyyy!"

"FINE GET AN ICE CREAM AND DON'T MOVE FROM THAT SPOT!" Ludwig finally gave in. This conversation was going nowhere, but logically speaking. There couldn't be that many places near border control with a exit sign _and_an ice cream cart nearby. It must have been on the way out of the airport, rather than near departures.

"But you're going to be hours!" Veneziano whined. "I'll be bored."

"Yes but your attention span doesn't inspire much hope… so stay there. I'll be about… 3 hours."

"OKAY! Thanks Germany you're the best."

Germany put the phone down and shook his head as he packed his bag. "Mein Gott…this is ridiculous."

3 hours later (2:00 GMT)

"Yaaaaayyyy! Germany you found meeeee!" Veneziano waved. "I was on my third ice cream just before you got here!"

"Yes sorry I couldn't get here faster."

"Oh no you've done it in breakneck time! Well done!" Veneziano appalled a little and then stopped as he heard his phone going off. "Oh! I'm getting a call….Ciao…Arthur it's you! Bonjourno!... I knew you were the man who called…the people who called me said they didn't know…well…oh you did tell them?... Sorry… But it's like two o clock in the morning so maybe they were tired...Oh it's urgent?...Sure...I see… Did I get this object thing? Yes… I did!...I got it… it's quite creepy though…the thing is in a bag… no I haven't touched it!"

Ludwig's mouth almost dropped to the floor, one of Veneziano 's ridiculous notions was correct, it seemed Arthur had called rather than just a random British person.

"mmmm…. Yeah Germany's here!...I called him… how did you know? Oh!... Cause I'm useless… can't disagree really." Veneziano smiled. "You want him? Oh…well… okay…"

Veneziano passed the phone over to Ludwig.

"_Guten__morgen__… __I__'__m__glad__you__went__over__to__sort__him__out__… __I__was__hoping__you__would__do__just__that__"_

"_Guten__morgen_ you say? Not especially." Ludwig sighed heavily as he saw Veneziano going for _another_ice cream. "What is this all about Arthur?"

"_Ah…well… it's about that artefact… and about… your brother…"_

"My brother? What about him?" Ludwig instantly clammed up at the mention of this.

"_Let's discuss the dagger first…That object is tremendously powerful…and tremendously dangerous… it is a magical object-"_

"Veneziano suspected something might be wrong with it, and for him to notice it must be terrible."

"_It__is__terrible.__" _Arthur continued. _"__In__the__morning__we__are__heading__over__to__Paris__… __we__might__be__able__to__dispose__of__the__dagger__there__…__or__at__least__keeps__it__power__at__bay.__"_

"Arthur, has something happened? Who is this 'we'? You're making this sound like we are running out of time."

"_We__are.__" _Arthur added bluntly. "_Alfred__has__done__something__stupid__… __and__that__dagger__is__practically__a__ticking__time__bomb__… __I__don__'__t__want__to__go__into__the__details__but__… __it__brings__out__the__bad__in__… __people__…__in__nations__… __in__everything__… __it__'__s__already__starting__to__effect__Alfred__… __I__am__telling__you__… __do__not__touch__it__Germany__… __I__don__'__t__care__if__it__promises__you__world__peace__and__a__peaceful__economy__for__the__rest__of__your__life__…__It__will__use__your__greatest__weakness__' __to__try__and__persuade__you__… __but__you__cannot__give__in__… __you__cannot__touch__it__… __if__you__do__then__you__will__become__another__catalyst__for__it__'__s__power__…"_

"…A catalyst for what?" Ludwig would usually be sceptical about this kind of thing, but Arthur seemed far too serious for this to be a joke.

"_The__world__'__s__destruction.__" _Arthur explained_.__"__That__dagger__has__an__evil__force__within__it__… __a__force__that__wants__to__rule__… __but__if__it__'__s__power__becomes__too__great__… __then__the__world__will__be__destroyed__as__the__wielder__will__lose__control__of__it__'__s__tremendous__power__… __and__it__will__envelop__the__world__in__darkness__and__death__…__It__will__try__and__tempt__you__more__than__Veneziano__… __it__often__tries__to__tempt__the__strong__…__you__must__not__even__carry__it,__even__if__he__asks__… __you__must__say__no__…__you__don__'__t__want__to__put__yourself__in__a__position__where__you__are__alone__with__it-__"_

"How will I know that it's trying to tempt me?" Ludwig didn't really quite understand what Arthur meant.

"You'll know." Arthur said simply.

"…Oh-" Ludwig hadn't expected a comment with such finality, it also made Ludwig realise the severity of the situation. "So, what must we do?"

"_We__'__ll__be__setting__off__to__Paris__in__the__morning__…__when__we__get__there__… __apparently__Matthew__will__be__joining__us__…__I__would__appreciate__it__if__we__could__all__be__in__Gare__du__Nord__by__no__later__than__1__o__clock__tomorrow__… __You__'__ll__be__staying__over__so__book__a__hotel.__ "_

"Right, I understand, I'll come to Paris with Veneziano otherwise… he'll never get there."

"_I__appreciate__it__very__much__…" _Arthur answered. _"__This__is__hardly__what__I__anticipated__this__Christmas.__"_

"No, neither did I…" Ludwig nodded, and stumbled over his next few words. "And…what about… Gilbert?"

"_Ahh__…__yes__…__well__…__I__think__I__need__him__for__protection.__He__will__be__impervious__to__the__dagger__'__s__effect__you__see.__I__think__he__will__be__a__good__asset__to__bring__along__…__So__… __I__am__asking__if__I__can__bring__him__back?__"_

"You…you _can_ bring him back?" Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. This was so out of the blue that he walked away from Veneziano for a moment, forgetting that leaving the Italian alone for a second was usually a recipe for disaster. "From the dea-"

"…_Yes…do you consent? I mean I wouldn't do something so drastic in normal circumstances… I don't like using my magic so casually…but… I need him… and I… will find someone else if you are-"_

"Do what you must." Ludwig said, he was a mixture of nervous, happy, confused and troubled all at once. "Well then, I'll make arrangements. We will meet you at the platform where your train is due to arrive, send us the details as you get them…See you tomorrow." Ludwig sighed as he finished the call and gave it back to Veneziano. "So, we will be going to Paris in the morning. In the meantime let's check into the hotel and book flights for tomorrow."

"Okay…Germany… is that dagger thing really bad?" Veneziano looked troubled and patted the satchel bag he was carrying. "It's in my bag right now… but I don't like it… it's making me feel uneasy…"

"Things…will be alright…" Ludwig said in a less than convincing manner.

"Ludwig…can you carry it for me?" Veneziano asked.

…_Go__on__Germany__… __take__the__bag_

Ludwig heard a voice, but he didn't know where it was coming from. His eyes widened and his breathing quickened slightly, his eyes were fixed on the bag for a moment.

…_It must be such a burden for Italy… do him a favour…and take the bag...take the dagger…_

"No." Ludwig answered simply. "I can't…I'm not…strong enough-"

"It's not heavy…" Veneziano smiled. "Even I can carry it!"

"No, that's not what I mean, Italy. You have to do this… for me."

Italy could see that how distressed Ludwig was. "Ludwig…" He nodded. "Okay! I can do this! I can do this for you!"

"Th-Thank you." Ludwig's cheeks flushed.

Veneziano smiled. "You get us a hotel and I'll hold this heavy…heavy bag here, you come back when you've got us a room-"

"I knew there was some form of catch." Ludwig sighed with a faint smile as he followed the directions to the hotel in the airport.


	11. Chapter 11

Author: Thanks for faves and reviews… special shout out to someone who read my last story… and then actually _wanted_to read this one…kudos to you! Enjoy everyone

Gilbert had been sat still for about two hours now, and he had pretty much reached his limit, but didn't really want to wake Arthur… who was asleep rather unceremoniously, sprawled all over the bed, breathing so deeply that Gilbert thought he must have smoked heavily for the last 100 years, (although this wasn't true at all). Luckily, he didn't have to wait long for Arthur to wake, and he in something of a foul mood too. His mobile phone alarm clock went off with such a shrill bell that even Gilbert jumped out of his skin, for a small alarm, it certainly made a massive noise. It was 6:30 am, and Arthur banged the phone, but it continued to ring.

"Morning boss…" Gilbert smirked at Arthur's noise of disapproval at his own phone.

"Morning? No…surely not." Arthur mumbled into his pillow. "It can't possibly be…" Arthur then did a double take at the clock face and then finally pressed the small button that stopped the horrendous noise. "Well…it seems it can…"

"Come on Arthur, get out of bed…" Gilbert said. "We've got heroing to do!"

"Heroing?" Arthur shook his head and sat on the bed edge, as if he was just about to get out but couldn't quite face that metre walk to the bathroom. He was looking at the floor, dreading that the moment he committed to getting up would be the moment his whole body would freeze as he stepped out of the warmth of his bed. He looked extremely tired in Gilbert's eyes… and had a clueless expression on his face that wasn't typical.

"It's one of many verbs I've invented whilst you were asleep... awesomeing… heroing…winning…"

"Winning is already a verb Gilbert." Arthur rubbed his face and stretched his arms.

Gilbert continued, as if he hadn't heard Arthur's comment. "I wasn't even frickin' tired Arthur!"

"You won't be tired…you're not technically alive…" Arthur rubbed his eyes thoroughly and made a horrendously loud yawning noise. "I, on the other hand… am supporting the both of us… you're my familiar at the moment Gilbert… and you're eating through my energy like a live wire… so could you please learn to calm down a little…"

"SERIOUSLY YOU'RE SLEEPING FOR BOTH OF US? DOES THAT MEAN I'M NEVER GONNA SLEEP? IT WAS SO BORING!" Gilbert moaned. "I'm gonna have to watch you sleeping for the both of us…while I'm awake…ALL THE TIME! Please don't tell me it's gonna be like that every night Arthur!"

"…Alright then… I won't tell you." Arthur walked (staggered) to the bathroom "I'm freshening up Gilbert… I'll be no more than fifteen minutes, I expect you to be ready to go... then again… you don't have any belongings do you?" He smirked. "That being the case… sit still and don't use any extra energy."

"Goddamn… I knew there was a catch to this back from the dead thing." Gilbert murmured as he read the menu for the hotel. "It's awesome protector… not servant… and I don't even get what 'familiar' means in this context…"

Arthur stepped into the bathroom and looked in the mirror and sighed, he wasn't looking t his best today, but still it wasn't anything a good wash and tidy wouldn't cure. He started running a hot shower and was about to start undressing when he noticed something strange when he took his shirt off.

His left arm was stiff. Not ridiculously so, but it seemed heavy and lethargic. Not at all like usual. He tried to shake the feeling off, but it didn't seem to work. He tried to look around the back, as that was where the pain seemed to be coming from, but he couldn't see anything because the mirror had steamed up. He sighed and shook his head,

'What terrible ventilation' He thought to himself. 'I expected something better from a hotel of this calibre…'

A shower would probably make it feel much better. As he was about to take the rest of his clothes off, he heard a banging on the bathroom door.

" ARTHUR!" Gilbert's voice sounded urgent.

"What in blazes? GILBERT I JUST TOLD YOU TO BE QUIET!" Arthur pulled the door open to a minimum, and held a towel around his body.

"BUT ARTHUR! I NEED TO KNOW IF I CAN EAT OR NOT BECAUSE THESE CHICKEN STRIPS ON THE DINNER MENU LOOK AMAZING!" Gilbert continued to shout. "ANYWAY POT CALLING KETTLE! YOU'RE SHOUTING LOUDER THAN ME!"

Arthur opened the bathroom door fully with such a pace that Gilbert was surprised, and was a little frightened that Arthur would be naked… and was indescribably relieved when he saw the flash of a white towel. Arthur's face suggested he was furious that he had to open the door in only a towel, and it was wrapped around his waist like a women's sarong.

"Hey boss… nice skirt." Gilbert mocked.

"Gilbert, what time is it now?" Arthur said, his voice almost squeaked, Gilbert would have described it as a mix of anger and humiliation. His cheeks were red with both embarrassment and anger.

"…I dunno… 6:49 or something."

"Therefore it's breakfast time… and we are going to Paris in a few hours… THEY DON'T SERVE CHICKEN STRIPS AT BREAKFAST GILBERT AND WE'LL BE GONE BY DINNERTIME! STOP BEING AN IGNORAMUS AND SHUT UP!" Arthur then slammed the door in Gilbert's face.

Arthur could then hear Gilbert chunnering to himself. "I'm just trying to keep my mind occupied so I don't worry about Ludwig…that's all-"

"…Yes…well shut up all the same-" Arthur snapped.

Gilbert guessed that Arthur had given him the cold shoulder.

"Fine…whatever…" Gilbert started drumming on the table. He then looked at Arthur's mobile phone. Gilbert didn't really know how to use it, but it seemed fairly self explanatory. 'Slide to Unlock'… He did and it worked. He victory punched, then noticed that there were missed calls on the phone…from…

"Ahhhh! Ludwig! That's got to be my brother! Kesesesesese!" Gilbert pressed his brother's name on the screen until it said 'Ludwig calling'. "…Just…calling Ludwig…'missed calls' and shit-"

Again Arthur didn't speak. He must have been in the shower.

Gilbert didn't have the phone near his ear, he was sat with it on the bed, he was expecting some form of loud speaker to talk to him and he saw that Ludwig had accept the call. "HELLO LUDWIG!"

He heard nothing… just an odd squeaking sound coming from the phone, it sounded like a mouse or something.

"…Ludwig?"

Gilbert had assumed that this phone would speak aloud to him… which it didn't… he became very confused and picked up the handset of the hotel phone "Hello Ludwig?" Of course, Gilbert thought that maybe the call would be routed to the landline.

The phone made a dead tone noise.

He turned the TV off, just in case that was the reason the phone didn't work. Then a text message appeared on the phone. Gilbert looked at the screen as it flashed. It said…

_From:Ludwig_

_Hold the phone near your ear_

So Gilbert did (upside down… but it was a start) "Hello?"

"…How could I have guessed that you were talking _'__at__' _the phone rather than into it…"

He could hear a very muffled Ludwig on the other side of the line.

"Yoshhhhhaaaaaa! You must have read my mind… like a totally legend!...Wait a sec…Is that you Ludwig? You've gotten totally quiet since we last spoke!"

"…Just try turning it the other way Gilbert… upside down… if that makes sense…" Ludwig sighed heavily. Gilbert could just picture him pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Oh…." Gilbert said slowly and turned the phone around as if the penny had finally dropped.

"Is that better?" Ludwig said.

"CHRIST LUDWIG STOP SHOUTING! IT'S EARLY IN THE MORNING!" Gilbert urged in a loud stage whisper. It seemed that Ludwig hadn't gotten any quieter over the years, his voice was clear, awake and alert, and in the background, Italy could be heard chattering excitedly. "So…Yo bro! What's kicking?" Gilbert smiled cheerfully

"…Mein Gott-" This wasn't a joyful 'mein gott' or even a shocked 'mein gott', it sounded like a much maligned 'mein gott'.

"YO LUDWIG IT'S ME GILBER-" Gilbert started.

"As if I wouldn't know it's you Gilbert!… I'm just… too shocked to say anything logical…" Ludwig said. "…Tell Arthur that we're going to get to Paris early, we're thinking of catching a plane at about 10 o clock, that should give us time to get to the train station to meet you at the eurostar terminal."

"Eurostar?" Gilbert sounded clueless.

"You'll understand when you see it."

Arthur had the briefest of shower's as Gilbert was shouting over the phone. He rushed his shower especially so he could tell Gilbert that there were other people in the hotel who were actually asleep… and they might not bloody appreciate him squawking like a parrot at seven in the morning. He quickly dried himself and changed into his clothes. Leaving his hair dripping wet, he never really bothered doing much with his hair… it just did as it pleased anyway. The closeness of the steam in the room actually made him cough and he wiped a portion of the steam away from the mirror, so he could have a once over look at himself and brush his teeth before they set off.

"_Hello little brother…very impressive little summoning there..."_

Arthur became tense as he heard another voice from the past come back to haunt him. It wasn't Alastair this time… but someone equally unsettling.

"Oh God-" Arthur concealed his fear with an irreverent comment. "It's you…"

"_Oh now… don't be bashful! Or…surely you haven't forgotten me too? Alastair won't be happy when he hears that-"_

Arthur could see his elder brother's reflection in the mirror. It wasn't Alastair this time, it was Wales, or by his human name Rhys. Unlike Alastair, Rhys had well maintained black hair that was styled perfectly, and it framed his face rather well. It seemed that the terrible curse of Kirkland hair had skipped this brother. He was a slender, tall man with dull green eyes, he was pale… and some would even consider him rather frail in comparison to his other brother's. Whereas Alastair was intimidating in something of an obvious way, big and brawny, Rhys…was as equally unapproachable, but not due to his appearance, there was something about his demeanour that was unsettling. It was subtle, but this often made his cruelty all the worse, as it often came out of the blue… out of all of them, Rhys hated Arthur the most. Arthur shook his head and carry on washing his face, trying to pretend Rhys wasn't there at all.

"He's just in my head… some stupid… irrelevant part of my consciousness-"

Arthur was quickly interrupted _"__Oh__Arthur!__Entertain__your__older__brother!__You__spoke__to__Alastair!__Why__not__me?__I__'__m__not__beyond__jealousy__… __just__because__I__'__m__…__in__your__head.__"_ Rhys added the final part of the sentence sharply.

"…" Arthur didn't speak.

"_Silent treatment is it? How rude… But I'll tell you what's really rude Arthur… the fact that you would summon some…dead Germanic nation over one of your own brothers to protect you…that makes me sick so it does."_

"Why the hell would I summon someone who hates me?" Arthur scowled as he brushed his teeth, trying to be not intimidated, but it was obvious that he was at least slightly troubled by Rhys' appearance. At least Arthur knew Alastair's scary tactics, he didn't like them, but knew exactly what to expect… him and Rhys hadn't seen each other for so long, that he had no idea what kind of trick he would try to pull. His reason for being there was obvious… he wanted to be brought back to the world of the living… unlike Alastair who liked teasing, Rhys would only appear to Arthur for one reason, to either plead for freedom, or try to obtain by… unsavoury means.

"_Not__taking__me__very__seriously__are__you__Arthur?__"_ His brother's reflection grinned. _"__Let__me__remind__you__of__your__…__precarious__predicament.__You__are__surrounded__by__mythical__creatures__that__belonged__to__me__and__Alastair__or__Patrick__… __they__like__us__far__more__than__they__like__you__… __I__could__summon__them__here__right__now__…"_

"Don't you dare Rhys!" Arthur sounded paranoid. "Now isn't the time for that! Our feud will have to wait-"

"_Keeping__that__German__zombie__around__must__be__quite__tiring__Arthur__… __me__and__Alastair__know__that__it__puts__a__tremendous__amount__of__pressure__on__you__…"_ Rhys didn't seem to care about Arthur's pressing need, he had his own agenda.

"Thank you for reiterating the obvious." Arthur snarled. "I didn't realize that you enjoyed rehashing the same well known facts over and over again… if it's an attempt at a guilt trip… it will do you little good."

"_Arthur… why don't you summon me to your side?" _

Arthur laughed dryly as he turned away for a moment. "So now we're adding stupid questions to the list of your more charming traits Rhys?"

Rhys shook his head. _"__You__'__re__so__boring__Arthur__…__Where__'__s__your__little__pet__mint__rabbit?__" __he__sneered.__ "__A__pathetic__familiar__if__ever__I__saw__one.__"_

"I thought it was too dangerous to bring her." Arthur said quietly. "That's why Gilbert's here."

"_And__Jesus__wept.__"_ Rhys' voice cracked, a fierce temper was bubbling underneath. _"__If__only__you__'__d__been__so__considerate__to__me__during__your__war__mongering__years__Arthur__… __unfortunately__I__always__got__dragged__along__for__the__ride__… __sometimes__I__had__to__watch__you__cut__through__Alastair__'__s__men__… __even__my__own__gallant__Welsh__boys__…__I__often__wonder__how__did__you__sleep__at__night?__"_

"…Things change Rhys… I'm not proud of the things we've done to each other…But if you're not willing to forgive me I don't see how things will change-" Arthur replied as he was about to leave the room and ignore the mirror all together.

"_You__are__right__about__one__thing__Arthur__… __things__do__change__…__I__know__that__right__now__… __you__'__re__very__susceptible__to__the__magical__and__mythical__are__you__not?__I__mean__you__'__re__resistance__is__weak__at__the__moment__because__of__that__dead__German__… __this__works__in__my__favour__…"_Rhys smiled_,__ "__Say__…__my__little__friends__…__are__you__there?__"_

"_Oh__Rhys!__" _The voice of a fairy started to ring in Arthur's ears.

"_It__'__s__Rhys!__"_ Another chimed in, sounding joyful.

"_Wales! It's you!" _

Arthur became paranoid at the excited tone of voice coming from the increasing number of fairies who answered Rhys' call… there must have been about ten of them there. Arthur was aware that there allegiance to him was tenuous at best. They were hardly dependable creatures, he knew that they would prefer Rhys and his mischievous streak to Arthur's almost painfully predictable duty to maintaining order. He also knew they were fickle creatures and would turn on him in an instant. He had nothing to offer them to persuade them and what Rhys had said was true, he was susceptible to their charms and magic. Arthur knew that if the fairies focused their powers on him, he wouldn't be able to resist.

"_It__'__s__me__…__so__… __How__do__you__like__Arthur__being__your__master?__" _Rhys smiled.

"_Well__…__he__'__s__pretty__boring!__"_ One of them commented.

"_He__doesn__'__t__let__us__play__like__you__used__to!__"_ The other moaned.

"_He's always busy with his meetings… he's always telling us to be quiet and not cause trouble… he's so dull… he isn't charismatic like you Rhys!"_

Arthur's head whipped around quickly, looking at the fairies who were insulting him rather liberally. This was a particularly cruel twist of fate. He had always been very fond of the fairies… and it was slowly becoming clear that they weren't all too fond of him. Well, some of them were, but none of the ones that were present at this moment in time. "A-"

Before Arthur could speak his brother cut in_.__ "__Oh__dear!__We__can__'__t__have__that__can__we?__"_ Rhys smiled. _"__But__…__if__I__was__around__…__then__you__'__d__be__free__to__do__whatever__you__wished-__"_

"Don't listen to him!" Arthur snapped. "He's trying to deceive you!"

"_Now__…__does__that__sound__like__me__ladies?__"_ Rhys said, knowing he had the upper hand. _"__No__…__not__at__all__…__I__only__want__for__us__to__be__together__again__… __like__in__the__old__days.__"_

"_Oh__yes!__That__would__be__brilliant!__"_ One of the voices squeaked.

"_But I'm afraid we can't do that right now… because Arthur's being so…boring…aren't you Arthur?"_

"RHYS! STOP THIS-" Arthur began. But Rhys began talking before he could continue. He had been the same when they were younger, Arthur had never been able to get a word in edge ways when his brothers were around… that was partly why he spent so much time alone (it was probably also the reason why he was so bad at talking to people).

"_Maybe you ladies could…I don't know…sing him a song and persuade him to summon me back… what do you say?" _

"_Oh__yes!__"_ One of them chirped. _"__That__would__be__a__good__idea!__"_

"_Maybe__Alastair__too?...__He__could__summon__Master__Alastair__couldn__'__t__he?__"_ One of them said excitedly.

"_One step at a time ladies… we'll try one of us first and then see how it goes after that."_

"No no no no no no no ." Arthur put his hands over his ears. "Come on… you know better than to trust him! It's just a trick! I'm your master too! You can't betray me like this-"

"_And__you__should__know__better__than__to__cover__your__ears__Arthur__… __you__can__'__t__block__out__fairy__song__like__that.__"_ Rhys said with a smile. Rhys seemed to be coming closer to the front edge of the mirror. _"__And__we__were__their__masters__long__before__you__Arthur__… __they__would__follow__what__me,__Patrick__or__Alastair__said__absolutely__…"_

Arthur knew he was right, his head was becoming full of noise, noise that was stopping him from being stressed, or worried…or upset… he started to become unnaturally giddy, for no reason what so ever. He felt a smile creep onto his face as he went into something of a blissful stupor. Everything was fine…

… everything was fine. Arthur couldn't really think of anything… except how _fine_everything was. His head drooped slightly and he closed his eyes with a content smile spreading across his face.

"Arthur!...come on!" Gilbert banged on the door. "Arthur! Open up!"

"_Don__'__t__listen__to__him__Arthur__… __why__don__'__t__you__bring__Rhys__back?...Come__on__hurry__… __bring__him__back__…__bring__him__back.__" _The fairies kept repeating over and over.

That's all Arthur could hear. Gilbert's voice was a million miles away. "…But I…"

"_You can draw the summon on the mirror easily! There's enough steam in here to do that! Then you only need to say the words!... We know you can do it Arthur!...Everything is fine…"_

"_Every__…__thing__…" _Arthur's finger was slowly rising up to the mirror and tracing the symbols on the mirror. "…_Is__…_"


	12. Chapter 12

_Author: Cheers everyone! Great reviewing and faveing and watching etc. So… Sorry for the cliff hangers! I really need to stop doing that! So just for a bit of fun…there is a song reference in here… I wonder if anyone will get it? Enjoy it peeps!_

"ARTHUR! OPEN THIS DOOR OR I SWEAR I'LL BREAK IT DOWN!" Gilbert sounded a trifle worried now as the banging didn't seem to be having any effect, neither was Arthur answering, if Arthur was simply being childish, he would have at least come out and told him to be quiet. But Arthur hadn't come out… and bizarrely it would seem that Arthur was muttering… to _someone_but it wasn't clear to Gilbert who he was talking to. Gilbert put his ear up to the door.

"…_I__call__thee__forth__…__oh__spirit__from__the__land__of__the__dead__…__that__you__heed__my__call__and__hark__to__my__cry__…"_

Gilbert definitely recognised that though, what was Arthur thinking summoning someone else? Gilbert almost instinctively knew that he was there because of Arthur's magic, but was also relying on Arthur's general life force to be alive. To summon another spirit at the same time would be insane... He started banging his whole body weight against the door, whatever Arthur was doing it seemed to Gilbert that it was against his will.

And Gilbert could hear some…weird chanting noise… maybe singing… he didn't know, but it didn't really affect him in any way, whereas Arthur was completely entranced by the sound.

"_-__bring__yourself__to__my__sight__and__let__your__spirit__be__under__my__command__…__I__name__thee__…_ "

There was an almighty crash as Gilbert broke the door off it's hinges, this seemed to scare the fairies away. Gilbert shook Arthur heavily by the shoulders, but this seemed to do little good. Although Arthur had stopped chanting, he still seemed to be in some lifeless stupor.

"_You__… __damnit__all__to__hell__…"_ Rhys spat furiously, the charisma that he had possessed whilst talking to the fairies had disappeared and was replaced by anger_.__ "__I__was__so__close.__"_

"What the hell are you doing?" Gilbert asked. "…I… don't know you but-"

"_Now__now__Rhys__… __you__'__ve__been__getting__a__little__carried__away__haven__'__t__you?__"_ Alastair also appeared in the mirror and rubbed Rhys' hair with a rather severe grip that caused his brother to cringe in discomfort.

"_Alastair__don__'__t__do__that__… __it__hurts!__"_ Rhys tried to shake his older brother off, with little success. Alastair smirked a little as his brother whined.

"Scotland!" Gilbert exclaimed.

"Ah…hello Prussia… it's been a long time hasn't it?" Alastair smiled. "You're looking well… for a dead man."

"Not long enough you son of a bitch… what are you doing to Arthur?" Gilbert said, still shaking him by the shoulders. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's in a fairy stupor…"Rhys answered, he seemed terribly frustrated with his brush with success. "He'll snap out of it eventually… you know how Arthur has a tendency to daydream."

"…But you guys are… his older brothers… why would you be so horrible to him? I don't get it!" Gilbert said.

"He's no saint Prussia… I think you assume too many nice things of him... He deserves what he gets." Alastair said severely. "Still… I told _Rhys_not to get carried away…we don't want to come back _just__yet_… he's got to save the world first…we can't interfere until he's got rid of this evil dagger nonsense…" Alastair continued to press down on Rhys' head, until Rhys eventually conceded.

"Fine…we'll wait." Rhys snarled.

"Right then… come on Rhys… let's go…seems you need reminder about the virtue of patience." Alastair smiled. "And Goodbye Prussia… and don't worry… you'll see me popping in checking on Arthur from time to time so don't be too worried… because you see… Arthur isn't the only one who can see spirits… your sharing his life force… so you can see them too."

Prussia blinked and in an instant they were gone. Arthur seemed to slowly shake his head and come around. "Now…what was I-?" He looked at Prussia, holding him by the shoulders, in a steamy shower room and dreaded the connotations "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS THIS? GILBERT! I REQUIRE AN EXPLAINATION!"

"What the hell Arthur? Don't flip your lid! I just saved you from your brothers!" he exclaimed.

"My…brothers…oh…" Arthur seemed slightly stunned by this, but then frowned and looked at the mirror in a typically defensive manoeuvre to change the subject. "And who drew that?" Arthur pointed at the summon on the mirror. Arthur said it in such an indignant way that it made it all the better when Gilbert replied. "It looks terrible! I mean look at it!"

"Err… you did… I guess…" Gilbert said slowly.

"Oh dear… how shoddy… I should really practice more often… it looks terrible." Arthur sighed and then looked away and carried on as if nothing had happened, he walked into the bedroom and saw that Gilbert had packed his bag. "Ahh very good… the folding wasn't as I would have liked but still-"

"THAT'S ALL YOU'RE GOING TO SAY? YOUR BROTHERS NEARLY TRICKED YOU INTO SUMMONING THEM BACK FROM THE DEAD, PUT YOU IN A TRANCE AND STUFF… AND YOU'RE NOT AT ALL UPSET ABOUT THAT?"

"Oh no…this happens all the time." Arthur replied, with a forced sense of indifference. "I'm used to this kind of thing."

"?" Gilbert made an incredulous noise.

"Let's check out then… Francis and Alfred will be at reception by now… dash it all… I hate being the tardy one." Arthur murmured. "Well… let's do a quick spot check… I don't want to be charged for anything-"He then noticed the bathroom door… that was off it's hinges. Arthur just sighed, no explosion of anger, no yelling. It seemed that the mirror incident had made him a tad withdrawn. "Typical… you have no finesse do you Gilbert?"

The atmosphere in the room became awkward, it was obvious that his brother's cruelty had affected Arthur more than he was letting on. But Gilbert didn't know what to do to console him. Arthur was a difficult man to comfort over trivial things, never mind of something so serious. Gilbert didn't know where to start, if Arthur and his brother had always had a terrible relationship like this, then no amount of comforting would be appreciated or even worthwhile.

So diffusing the atmosphere in the only way he could, Gilbert took hold of Arthur's walking cane which he had left on the bed, and swung is around as if it were a sword. "This is pretty cool boss! Is it to…I don't know cast spells or something?"

"Don't touch that!" Arthur said and snatched it off Gilbert. There was a strange darkness present in his voice. "This…this is precious…"

"Really? Just looks like a fancy cane to me…" Gilbert shrugged as he picked up Arthur's bag and headed for the door.

"This is from… the empire…" Arthur said as he pulled the door to. "A gift… from better times…"

"Ooookkkkayyyy." Gilbert felt even more awkward and had probably made Arthur more depressed rather than cheerful. He sighed heavily, picked up Arthur's bag and walked down to the reception without prompting. Arthur was almost stalking behind him, not speaking, barely making any noise at all, except clanking that cane incessantly on the ground, with every step, making his presence known.

Alfred and Francis were indeed already at the reception, and seemed to be in fairly good spirits. Alfred seemed to be making the best of a bad situation by exchanging a story of how 'cool' Arthur had been when he'd saved him in his dream, he was clearly appreciative of Arthur's intermission, he didn't go into too much detail though, as he didn't want to frighten Francis, who was listening non-chalantly and nodding in a lazy fashion, finding it hard to believe that Arthur could ever be 'cool.'

"Ahhh…. Look 'ho it is…" Francis smirked as he pulled his hair out of his face and attempted to pull a debonair glance out of the bag as he heard Arthur's cane on the ground, but not looking up to meet his eye "A little late Art-"

Francis stopped, once he looked up "Gi-…Gi…Gi…"

"Oh yeah… Gilbert's here too." Alfred added, looking slightly embarrassed. "I forgot to tell you that part? Man I must be losing it a little… that was the best part of last night… except for the Sitcom I watched…geez that was funny-"

"Ahhhh! Mon capitaine!" Gilbert said with a hearty grin. "You look…well pretty much the same… but you've let the shaving go a little bit I see." Gilbert rubbed Francis' face. "You should get back on that Francis… women don't like unclean faces…they like baby faces like mine…"

"Oh…it's very soft mon ami…" Francis touched (caressed) Gilbert's face. Alfred looked as if he was going to be sick, watching the two grown men pawing each other like kittens. Arthur seemed equally disgusted, if not slightly embarrassed by their avante gard behaviour. "Let's see 'ow soft it really is." Francis was about to demonstrate his 'European hospitality' by kissing Gilbert's cheeks and then hugging him for a little bit _too_long.

"What a load of twoddle." Arthur snapped as he pushed Gilbert's leg out of the way and stood inbetween him and Francis before the French man had the chance to pounce on him. "You can get touchy feely in Paris… not in my backyard."

"Ewwwwww Francis! You're even pervier than you were before! I didn't think that was even possible!" Gilbert said.

Francis was about to start on a dodgy justification, but then reconsidered. "Well…Gilbert… I won't let your bad opinion of me eclipse this 'appy reunion." He did continue to hug Gilbert, but not in an (overly) flirtatious manner.

"Europeans." Arthur shook his head. "… you can whisper sweet nothings on the train if you can't wait to get to Paris do you have to do it now? We should set off no-"

"Arthur…" Alfred sounded as if he wanted something.

"What is it Alfred?" Arthur made an obvious noise of disapproval.

"I'm…thirsty…can we have a drink before we go?" he whined.

"Damnit all…Well…" he looked at America's pleading expression and then didn't want to seem like a total spoil sport, there was something about Alfred's smile when he knew Arthur was going to say 'yes' that made him soften. "Very well… we'll have a quick drink here before we go." Arthur then led Alfred to the bar, which was now serving typical breakfast goods. Gilbert and Francis were still reminiscing in the hallway and didn't follow, Arthur didn't mind that too much to be honest, a break from Gilbert would be relief from increased blood pressure.

But this was the first time that Arthur and Alfred had been left alone since this journey had begun, Arthur didn't really know what to say now that the moment had finally arrived. Luckily, he didn't have to. Alfred caught the attention of a bar server and ordered a coffee at lightening speed, perhaps he had actually taken note of the urgency of this 'mission'… or more likely… he was damn thirsty… probably hungry too, but knew he should wait until they were on their way before he got any food.

The waitress was an old woman, haggard looking for her age and impatient to boot, she had a grouchy demeanour. Alfred would have guessed she was a cleaner or something, who'd been dragged in due to staff shortages, she didn't really match the atmosphere of the rest of the place. She seemed a bit 'old hat' in comparison to the somewhat clean and crisp appearance of the rest of the hotel staff.

"You want a coffee?" The woman asked Arthur the same question, with a rather indignant tone. Alfred winced, and expected Arthur to go off the handle at such an 'insulting' comment. 'How dare she assume that I'd drink a coffee! What an ingrate.' or something in that style.

"Oh… I don't drink coffee…I take tea my dear." He replied with a degree of charm and poise that Alfred never really got to see. Alfred did a double take, somewhat bowled over by Arthur's hidden charm. The woman also seemed surprised.

She seemed a little cheered by his politeness. "Breakfast Tea? Sugar? Milk? "

"Breakfast tea would be splendid and…no thank you on the sugar." He answered. "A gentleman cannot indulge his sweet tooth at this time in the morning… a drop of milk will do just fine-"

"Oh…yes sir…" She said, blushing slightly. No one had been so polite to her this morning.

Even Alfred was blushing slightly. "Arthur… what the heck…was that all about? You mean that gentleman stuff wasn't a load of baloney? You _can_be civil?"

"Manners maketh man Alfred." Arthur said. "Are you impressed?"

"Dude! _I__'__m_ frickin' blushing! And you weren't even talking to me!" Alfred smiled. "That was amazing Arthur! If you were like that all the time you'd be a true ladies man!"

Arthur smiled slightly, but it wasn't a young man's smile, it was a smile filled with wisdom and mixed signals. "I don't care too much for being a ladies man Alfred… However, I think that the least I can do for such a woman is show her a little dignity and respect."

Alfred was just short of choking on air out of sheer surprise. Arthur hadn't demonstrate such… _gentle_behaviour… in a long time.

The woman came back with the two cups. "Is that alright for you?"

"That's lovely…thank you." Arthur smiled and passed the cup to Alfred. "Here you go… now I don't want you to burn yourself but try to be quick… Alright?"

"Alright…" Alfred was somewhere between charmed and perturbed. "I don't want to sound…horrible… and I know you're not always a grouch… but what's brought on the sudden…err…well…niceness? It's kind of freaking me out…"

Arthur's sighed heavily "…I don't want to be horrible to you Alfred…Sometimes… I just find it hard to express myself… I want to big a good big brother that's all…"

"Oh…well I'm not really you're little brother anymore so… you don't need to do that…" Alfred looked at the rim of his coffee cup awkwardly, he didn't really know what to do or say either.

This had soured the mood considerably as Arthur muttered angrily, something to the tune of 'Well, maybe I won't bother then, you stupid toerag…', Although Alfred didn't catch the exact wording. It seemed to bring their relationship back to the status quo.

"…err…I'm not scared of this evil thing you know?" Alfred said, trying to return the conversation to its normal style. "A hero like me doesn't get freaked out by this kind of thing!"

"…I hope so Alfred." Arthur paused. "I want to save you from-"

"Yeah I know… this mark… Argghhh! It's so frustrating it… feels like a disease! Like I'm marked with! Sheeez!" Alfred sighed in frustration.

"…A disease you say?... Well let's hope that the cure… isn't worse than the disease." Arthur commented tentatively.


	13. Chapter 13

_Hi everyone! I'm sorry it's been ages T_T… I've been so busy lately… My bad, but don't worry the new chapter is a little longer to make up! Thanks for the all the reviews and favouritings! I'm honoured, really I am *blush* In this chapter Francis' sends a text… the phrase he uses is similar to 'home sweet home'… there isn't an exact translated phrase… you'll know it when you see it. Hope you enjoy… as I'm busy at the mo, the updates will take longer, but don't worry! The story will be finished for sure! I guarantee it!_

Veneziano was giggling as he stood on the platform at Gard du Nord station. "Woow! Ludwig! It's so cool Don't you think it's cool?"He had thoroughly enjoyed his sleep in the comfy hotel, the cushy flight that had been booked for them and then their ride to the train station. He didn't usually get things done so efficiently, so he usually ended up having to settle with economy class, having Ludwig around sure was handy…

Ludwig on the other hand had been through the most horrible night and trip of his life. But for once, it wasn't Italy that had made it thoroughly unenjoyable.

All the night previous, Ludwig couldn't sleep, he was lying wide awake, almost unmoving, trying to block out the sound of the voice he had heard in his head, but it kept repeating over and over and over, indefatigable and tireless, it's sheer persistence had made Ludwig uneasy. Although it's spiel wasn't particularly persuasive, the sheer monotony and constant noise had been difficult to ignore, and for the whole time, Italy was lying asleep with it under his pillow… The whole night… Why under his pillow? Well, uncharacteristically, his logic had been fairly sound:

'_If it's under my head….then I'll know if you try to grab it… so I can stop you.'_

Ludwig would hate to admit it, but this was indeed a godsend. The whole trip would have been unbearable had it not been for Veneziano's talking… and even with it, sometimes it was difficult to block out the incessant noise… the tempting and the whispering. He hoped that Arthur would get their soon, because he didn't know how much more he could bare.

"Oh…look it's…errr….that…guy….what's his name?" Veneziano waved at the man he recognised, but whispered to Ludwig in something of a side whisper.

"It's Matthew…Matthew Williams…Canada." Ludwig sighed heavily, he still had the energy to be appalled. "How can you not know who he is? He's in the G8 for goodness sake."

"He's…not very memorable…"

"Oh…. Hi guys…" Matthew said from a distance, with his usual, fairly chilled out demeanour. He walked over to them slowly, carrying just one holdall bag… he travelled light, hoping he wouldn't be there for too long. "How are things?"

"Things are greattttttttt." Veneziano smiled.

"Oh Shut up." Ludwig snapped. "Things _are__not_great at all. Arthur and the others are on their way here now… they should arrive fairly soon… are you aware of the situation?"

"Well Alfred told me a lot of things from his perspective… but I'm thinking that a more neutral account wouldn't go amiss right now… most of the crucially important details were kind of sketchy." Matthew replied.

He was similar looking to his brother Alfred, his hair was slightly longer and waved at the bottom, it did this naturally, because there was no way that Matthew would ever be bothered to do something like that himself. He was a chilled out type of guy, but he certainly wasn't a poser… that reminded him too much of Francis… and he really didn't want to turn out like Francis. He looked a little worse for wear due to his hectic travel plans, he had only got to Paris about an hour ago, and had been standing at the platforms for the trains ever since. Hoping to see a nation he recognised.

"That sounds like Alfred." Ludwig murmured. "It reminds of another person who isn't a million miles away right now." His eyes drifted over to where Veneziano was standing, he was of course oblivious to this and looking at a magazine stand. "12:50… they should be here soon…" He looked at his watch anxiously, as if the concept of them being late was unsettling to him.

"I got a text from Francis not too long ago… I think they'll get here in the next ten minutes."Matthew said, he check his phone and there was a new message.

_From: Francis_

_qu'on__est__bien__chez__soi_!

"They're definitely back on French soil…" Matthew said, with a smile on his face.

"Hey…Ludwig! Can I run to the time board and look at when the next train from London is?" Veneziano asked.

"AS IF YOU NEED MY PERMISSION!" Ludwig said. "Of course you can!"

"Veeeeeee…."

Ludwig could just _tell_that Veneziano was probably trying to run as fast as he possibly could to get there... and 'have a race' with a train, It was one of those typically childish things that he would do.

Matthew smiled. "Quite the bundle of energy?"

"No…not usually… just when he feels like it." Ludwig said. "When I was trying to get him out of bed he wasn't a bundle of energy… or anything even close to that."

They both looked not 100 yards away, and they could see him bent over double, wheezing.

"Ahh that's more like it." Ludwig said, sighing hopelessly. "This has been the status quo for quite some time… he's useless and then I go and sort it out…it's funny… but I don't really…mind so much."

By the end of the comment Ludwig seemed to be smiling fondly, something that caused Matthew to laugh quietly to himself.

"And the further away he is with that damn dagger the better…" Ludwig mumbled.

"Oh…so it's here then? And Veneziano has it?" Matthew asked, and seemed slightly relieved. "At least someone we know has got it… say… can it affect other nations too?"

Ludwig, in a moment of weakness shrugged. "I don't know… I haven't felt anything bad from it." He didn't even know why he lied, it was as if he would feel weak, admitting it had caused him problems. But something about his delivery didn't leave Matthew entirely convinced.

"Are you sure bro?" Matthew said casually. "You look a little stress-"

"THEY SHOULD BE HERE IN ABOUT 4 MINUTES!" Veneziano interrupted. "I'm definitely not looking forward to it, as it will probably involve lots of scary things, but it does mean that we'll get to see Francis and the others again! That's got to count for something?"

"Hmmm." Ludwig responded. Oh it would certainly count for something, high blood pressure and stress, and that was probably all.

The four minutes passed with Matthew and Veneziano engaging in idle chatter whilst Ludwig clock watched, almost paranoid that the train would be late. Veneziano didn't really understand why Ludwig had probably gotten so stressed out about the time, but he also didn't care enough himself to enquire on it.

Just then, Matthew's ears pricked as he heard the dulcet tones of a familiar American coming off the train at the nearest terminal.

…

"The sun can always be shining inside of you Arthur!" The American chimed in cheerfully, taking a bite of his sandwich. "You just gotta act more upbeat! Then people will want to be your friend!"

"You see Alfred… it's comments like that which make me respect even less than I already do." Arthur added, shaking his head. "Anyway… I thought that society dictated that you thanked someone when they did you a favour?"

"I could care less-" Alfred started and Arthur was quickly cut in.

"No Alfred! You _couldn__'__t__care__less!__ '_I could care less' means you have to care to a certain degree-"

"It's irony man-" Alfred answered.

Arthur wore a facial expression that suggested he might bang his head against the hardest wall he could find. "Irony has an 'r' in it Alfred… I implore that you use it- It's irony as in 'ron' not as in 'iron'"

"Oh yeah! Well when you're drunk nearly all the damn letters go! Dropping 'h's' dropping 'g's'… "

They both stopped their arguing when they saw Matthew watching, rather confused and mildly amused, Alfred wasn't the terrified wreck he had been on the phone, he seemed pretty normal.

"Oh Mattie it's you! THANK GOD!" Alfred hugged Matthew in a typically ouvert and public fashion that made all the passengers around them make noises of approval, and cause Arthur to feel nauseous… thank goodness Kiku wasn't there, he may have been sick all over the platform by the disturbing public display of affection. "I've missed you so much, man, like, I don't even know…"

Matthew smiled weakly as he was smothered by his brother's cuddles and compliments, he was also wondering where on earth they had all come from so suddenly (the compliments and the cuddles that is). Perhaps it was the sheer joy of seeing Matthew, but more than likely, it was the sheer relief of not having to spend his day filled with criticisms from nations who were old (and also weaker) than him. "…Err…thanks…Alfred…can you get off me so I can… breath and stuff?"

"Oh yeah! Sorry about that… I'm just so happy to see you…and _other__people__…_any…_other__people._" This suggested to Matthew that his trip on the train with Francis, Arthur and Gilbert was less than perfect. Matthew also knew that Alfred had deliberately left to statement open ended, just so then Matthew would ask '_why__Alfred?__How__was__your__trip?__What__do__you__mean?__' _It was a pretty poor gambit, but Alfred had used it many times to prove a point in the past.

"Care to elaborate?" Matthew asked (as predicted).

"WELL ACTUALLY!" Arthur butted in. "ALFRED HAD A LITTLE TURN ON THE TRAIN… DIDN'T YOU ALFRED?"

"Err…well…" Alfred looked devastated that Arthur had gotten to answer first. "Yeah…"

"He had a little bit of 'dagger obsession' moment… and I had to put him to sleep… _Didn__'__t__I__Alfred?__" _Arthur added with a smirk.

At this point, Francis turned to talk to Veneziano (as he couldn't stand it when Arthur bragged, it was the only thing worse than listening to Arthur do…anything else), and Gilbert smirked at his brother, who was stood, almost like a statue at the ridiculous sight that was before him… His older brother… trying to look fashionable. It seemed that despite the impending doom that was about to ensue, Gilbert wanted to look so cool that he decided to drop into 'Topman'… Gilbert winced, who was Gilbert kidding? Those trousers were horrible... and shades… at Christmas?

Alfred seemed annoyed that Arthur had managed to one up on him and tried to fight back with a cheerful comment. "Yeah…But I feel all better now! Even though I can feel that it's pretty close…" His eyes drifted over to Veneziano who was talking in an almost constant buzz to Francis. For just a moment Alfred had a very dark look in his eyes. Arthur instantly ribbed him in the side so hard that he was left winded. He knew that the others weren't paying attention, only Matthew and Alfred were listening to him.

"Now now Alfred… it's a bit soon to be developing obsessive tendencies for something you only held for sheer moments!" He teased, but then his voice became flat and deadly serious. It was barely above a whisper, but very audible to both Matthew and Alfred. "Leer at Veneziano like that again and I'll do much more than put you to sleep… And no Alfred… I'm not talking to you… I'm talking to that _thing__… _inside you." He ended the comment with a very bizarre smile, that genuinely frightened both Alfred and Matthew.

"Anyway… let's not hang around here, we have important business to take care of! Gilbert! If you'd be so kind as to hold my bag-"

Suddenly, a group of young ladies walked past the group of nations and then took root not too far away from where they were standing, all of them speaking fluently in French. Arthur knew that Francis and Veneziano were already preparing some European chat up line to get their numbers and let out a sigh. "Come on let's not-"

Francis had already made his approach like a hawk swooping down on the group of mice. He'd done his typical moves, swept his hair back, swaggered over and pretended he didn't have a lighter, so that one of them would offer him one. Veneziano had already mentioned that he was lost… and Italian… and a bit hopeless and was wondering if one of the 'beautiful ladies' could help him find his way to the nearest toilets. Arthur, Ludwig, Gilbert and even Matthew and Alfred despaired at the lameness of their chat up lines.

"_You__must__be__the__greatest__thief__ever__because__you__just__stole__my__heart__away.__" _Was the first offending article courtesy of Francis.

"_If__I__had__a__star__for__every__time__you__made__me__smile__I'd__have__the__whole__nights__sky__in__the__palm__of__my__hand.__" _Was the second from Veneziano.

"Do you know French?" Alfred asked Arthur suddenly, he too seemed to be blushing at the appearance of the well endowed and rather attractive women. "Coz… could you figure out how to say…_Is__your__dad__an__alien?__… __because__you__'__re__out__of__this__world._"

"ALFRED… WHAT THE HELL? WHAT GIRLS WOULD FALL FOR A LINE LIKE THAT… AND WHY ARE ALIENS ALWAYS INVOLVED?" Matthew gasped incredulously.

"Fluent actually." Arthur replied brightly, he then switched to French. "After FRANCIS left YOUR BROTHER I had to become fluent in order to communicate with him…"

"YOU'VE STOLEN FRENCH A FEW TIMES OF ME AS WELL MON AMI." Francis shouted back, causing the ladies around him to giggle, despite the fact they had no idea what Arthur and him were talking about.

"I THINK THAT FORCING FRENCH UPON A NATION IS DIFFERENT THAN STEALING YOU ARROGANT-" Arthur shouted back, but then checked himself, remembering what country he was in… He was in France… speaking French had to be avoided at all costs, so he could be an annoying English tourist. He reverted back to English. "I'm sorry Alfred… it's terribly rude us talking in a language you can't understand." He said leering at Francis implying, he should have some more consideration.

"It's alright you were just doing it to show off… probably compensating for how lacking you are in so many other geographical factors." Alfred smiled.

Arthur cursed furiously at Alfred's well meaning comment which had gone awry, as they often did.

"Do… you think we should go over there? Where the girls are?" Alfred said with a glint in his eyes.

Arthur shrugged, already knowing the outcome of any attempt he made to flirt with someone. "I don't believe it will make a huge amount of difference to me anyway."

Alfred walked over, clearly brimming with excitement, it was quite obvious that he was up for any competition, even ones that didn't involve a show of strength. "I'm Alfred… and he's Arthur but you can call him Arty!" Alfred said brightly presenting himself to the group of ladies. "I'm sorry… I don't speak French but-"

"I'm Francis Bonnefoy… and you can call me… anytime…" Francis said, kissing a lady's hand causing her to swoon and all of her friends to crowd around him. "Alfred mon ami… it doesn't matter if you can't speak French…so long as you speak the language of romance…If you can speak the language of romance that's all you'll need for your time in Paris."

Alfred smiled positively at this statement. "Maybe I will be able to manage in France then."

"Show off... seems your fluent in the language of bullshit, Francis" Arthur said folding his arms, looking quite flustered. He looked at the group of 'haripes' as he put it, who appeared to be laughing at him and pointing at his eyebrows, he sighed maligned. "Excuse me… is something the matter?" Arthur snarked abruptly.

"No." one of the women answered.

"Ignore him," Francis said with a cruel curl in his lips. "He is English after all…"

"Oh yeah… now that you mention it… he has the… _weird_English speakers French accent." The women smirked as Francis began to whispered rapidly, Arthur couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but saw the explosive reaction of the women wooping in hysterics. Arthur scowled and crossed his arms. And surprisingly enough Canada received a great deal of attention, Arthur took this as a personal blow, even _Canada_was getting attention?

"Awww! You're hair! It's so soft!" One girl said, caressing it fondly. Matthew blushed.

"Oh… thank you!" he said sincerely, surprised that people weren't ignoring him.

"Oh? You speak French so well! I'm surprised… your friends have something of a… lilt with their accents…" She looked over to Gilbert, who had decided to join in, but had the worst French she'd ever heard

"But yours is perfect-" One of the women exclaimed but added the second half in something of a slight, Matthew was always amazed at how Francis in general seemed to permeate through the people of France, her disdain for English speakers was quite obvious.

Francis smiled at Francis. "My word! Such a refined group of women! I feel like we might have met before… in my dreams!"

"After all… he's probably shagged half of you already and you couldn't remember… chloroform often has that effect."

That comment didn't go down too well. Arthur continued to ignore the women after this.

"Oh yeah… I'm from Canada… so-" Matthew continued, ignoring Arthur and Francis' little spat.

"REALLY? My auntie lives in Canada…" One women said.

"I love Canada! I go every year! It's my favourite country ever!" Another remarked,

Matthew's life had now been made. Anything that happened from this point onward didn't matter, quite frankly if the world did end of the end of the week then at least he knew… that he was popular... somewhere… He savoured the moment.

"I'm glad it isn't just me-" Arthur started, sounding relieved and referring to Ludwig, until he saw the German being flirted with (not both ways of course, as Ludwig was hopeless in these situations, and couldn't possibly flirt with such a… floozy of a woman… but it was something)… so it was in fact just Arthur who was alone.

"I kind of knew that already." England said, with a smirk that concealed deep disappointment. "It's fine I hate people anyway." His over compensatory laugh made everyone stare at him. He looked away and scowled, envious at the attention. He then proceeded to sit and wait for the sea of cooing women to leave.

"What… does Arthur already have a girl at home? Maybe he has a ship in the port already?" Alfred said, trying to make the situation a little less embarrassing for Arthur.

"If he has a port… then it's been waiting so long that the pier has collapsed and no one can dock." Gilbert quipped, causing Francis to woot in hysterics.

Arthur continued to ignore the crowd of women and decided to get the newspaper, it didn't matter that it was written in French, it had to be more interesting than watching Francis and a swarm and women marvelling at his amazing good looks (yes Francis was marvelling at his own good looks too). Besides, so long as the paper was big enough to cover his face that was fine.

Not that Arthur thought he was good looking either. He had always been reminded by all of his relatives and even France of what a scruffy looking little punk he had been, unfortunately he'd never been able to make his appearance any less scruffy, even his hair rebelled against his scalp. So he stopped trying eventually. He had tried to persuade people in other ways, his intelligence, magical powers and riches. However, these had never really made anyone _like_him any better.


	14. Chapter 14

I'm so sorry this has taken so long to update everyone! I wrote it ages ago… but my parents moved house and I'll be moving again soon T_T. I hope we all had a great Christmas and New Year! I did! I LOVE YOU ALL 3 Back to the serious chapter OAO

After about 20 agonising minutes of clichés, 'see you laters' and more 'idle prattle', as Arthur thought, the women slowly began to leave (one by one of course… not giving Arthur the satisfaction of them leaving all at once). Obviously Veneziano's woman was the last to leave, and she would probably be seen again in his room later in the evening (if he had anything to say about it). Arthur and Alfred had surmised that Francis would see his girl later as well, the amount of charisma that had been oozing from him was enough to make the hardiest of women swoon. Still, Arthur would certainly not say this to Francis, let alone show it on his face, thus he rolled his eyes and finally folded up his paper.

"Oh well done Francis… another poor unsuspecting woman in your clutches." Arthur dusted his jacket down and picked up his cane.

"Oh mon capitaine… she wasn't so innocent."

"Dirty talk?" Alfred looked uninspired. He had tried to talk to a girl… but his effort had failed somewhat. It wasn't because he lacked charm, it was because he was a little too… _innocent_ (for want of a better word) for the woman he'd set his sights on. He wasn't green, but most of what she said was stuff he either didn't understand or was quite frankly frightened about.

"…This is great…" Matthew smiled, waving at the final two women as they walked away "…but I got given these…what are the numbers for?" he asked naively, looking at the tiny pieces of paper he'd been given. "I mean… I know they're phone numbers…but-"

"They…are trophies mon ami." Francis said, patting his old charge on the shoulder proudly.

"Even I got one." Alfred piped up, unable to stand losing face in front of Matthew his brother. "Though… I'm slightly scared to call it…that woman had some…weird taste in-"

"Aww and look… 'ittle Angleterre… 'e 'as no numbers… because 'e doesn't 'ave a gorgeous face like mine!"

Arthur scowled "If I had a face like yours Francis I'd put it on a wall and throw a brick at it." Arthur said irately, hitting Francis on the leg with his cane.

"If I 'ad a face like yours I'd put it on a brick and throw a wall at it!" Francis rebuked, causing everyone to laugh. Gilbert in particular was whooping, which caused Arthur to look even more embarrassed... a dead man was whooping at Arthur's incapacity to get a girlfriend, somewhere down the line, Arthur's life must have taken a sardonic turn…

"Well…chop chop." He responded curtly, "we don't have all day you know -"

"So… does Arthur really not have a girl at home?" Alfred whispered to Francis.

"Oh no!" Francis replied. "I think he says that he 'isn't bothered' because it lessens the blow for him."

"The blow?" Alfred said blankly.

"Arthur couldn't get a girlfriend… and even if he did by some form of a miracle, there's no way he could keep hold of one." Francis answered. "With his 'charming'' manner and his… strange friends." He smiled nastily, hinting about Arthur's 'fairy friends'.

"Shut up Francis! Now let's go! Into the city, I think, perhaps a coffee shop or bistro… have a drink and discuss the situation thoroughly… standing in the station like this is quite irritating for other passengers…" Arthur snapped as he ushered the now rather large group out of the station. "Why don't we go to…Le Panorama?"

"Ah! I suppose that's a good choice!" Francis said with a false smile. "On a budget… but it's better than McDonald's!"

"Well then… show us the way…_mon ami." _Arthur frowned.

"Ahhh yes! Come along everyone! Let me show you my beautiful city!" He said with a flurry of his hand. The group followed as Francis fell back and began to talk to Gilbert.

Alfred couldn't help but feel a tad sorry for Arthur, he genuinely seemed to be an odd one out in the party. Shared language was the only thing that linked himself, Alfred and Matthew together, and proximity for him and the other European nations. Francis, Veneziano, Gilbert and Ludwig had a 'European togetherness' about them. Matthew and Alfred chattered, trying to distract themselves from the 'grim reality' that they were facing.

"I couldn't believe it!" Francis smiled. "When I saw Gilbert I thought it was too good to be true!"

"I did the same when I saw my awesome self back from… well…!" Gilbert trailed off as he didn't want to mention his long period of absence. "It's good to be back… the old crew reunited…If only Antonio were here…"

"Ah…well… he's kind of broke right now so-" Francis began, but was quickly interrupted.

"I know! I'm getting all excited just thinking about it!" Veneziano smiled. "This is going to be so much fun! You, me… Ludwig and Gilbert!"

"The whole world might be destroyed and all you can think about is how fun it's going to be that we are in each other's company? Oh Italy… I despair sometimes…" Ludwig shook his head slowly, as Gilbert laughed loudly with a youthful abandon that made Francis smile out of sheer joy that Gilbert was back, regardless of how annoying he could be at times.

Arthur had often wondered what it would be like for Gilbert to come back. (He had hypothesized that people would alienate him or perhaps be frightened on account of the fact he was dead, it wasn't such an illogical thing to assume). But infuriatingly, he was not only well received, it was as if he'd never been away, he had adjusted with little difficulty, and was building bridges between his surly younger brother and Francis as if he was arranging a date, next thing he knew, they'd be forming alliances left right and centre. '_I'm sure you'd be great friends.' _Gilbert had said to Francis. Veneziano was also close to Ludwig and Francis as well and had also been assisting Gilbert in his mission to secure some allies for Ludwig. (Arthur concluded that Ludwig was tolerating the others, and Francis was probably manipulating Italy for some disclosed purpose).

Arthur's eyes drifted over to Matthew and Alfred for a moment… but it was far too touching and sentimental for him to absorb, aside from a lot of back slapping on Alfred's part and team talk on Matthew's, there wasn't anything else interesting going on… just two brothers trying to be decent in terrible circumstances, (though Arthur had a theory that they were secretly trying to trip it each other with inadequacies).

He had to break up this terrible quaint scene of 'togetherness', it was infuriating and he was convinced that the nations were being terribly insincere (Arthur found negatives in every situation and it seemed he was incapable of reading the small mercies of consolation). Whereas some people would be sad… or perhaps a little more graceful in their solitude and lack of popularity, Arthur Kirkland certainly wasn't. He was furious that he was being ignored like the poor relation.

'_Why should I make such an effort with the others if they won't try with me?' _He thought angrily, _'After all, I __AM__ the one who's going to save them, my magic will undoubtedly be the difference between salvation and the apocalypse… people shouldn't avoid me like this… I'm not just some sap who coos for attention…Either they'll include me or I'll break their conversations up all together'_

"Come along Gilbert. Don't dawdle." He said, eager to break Gilbert apart from his friend. If no one would walk with Arthur by choice, at least he could force Gilbert too, and remove him from his little group of friends. Not that Arthur was jealous or anything… that would be silly…

"I can walk with whoever I-" Gilbert started.

"Just remember who is keeping you on this planet Gilbert… now I said don't dawdle." Arthur's eyes narrowed. Gilbert sighed and was about to concede, he had no choice as he was Arthur's servant (unwillingly, but to stay alive it was worth it) when a voice interrupted.

"…Arthur,"

Arthur looked surprised as the comment came out of Ludwig's mouth.

"What difference does it make if he's walking with them… or with you?" Ludwig demanded angrily.

"Well I asked him to…And he should do as I say…" Arthur began anxiously, trying to sound angry, but failing.

"Because?" Ludwig snapped harshly. "Are you just doing this because you enjoy pulling rank and being a bully? I hope that is not the case…"

"I suppose it doesn't make a difference… who he walks with-" Arthur said quietly, conceding defeat, although he did have a retort about Ludwig calling someone a bully being hypocritical, but he thought better of it.

"Right then…well… ignore him Gilbert… and don't let this moronic Brit boss you around." Ludwig said casually and sneered at Arthur.

"Woah! I have a new found respect for you bro!" Gilbert said proudly. "I can't believe you just did that for me!"

"Please go and walk with Francis." Ludwig said. When people complimented him, he often felt uncomfortable and wanted to be on his own, or with Veneziano, as he could block his voice out easily.

"Righto! Maybe I should call you Boss!" Gilbert smiled.

Arthur looked angrily at Ludwig. Alfred saw it, a moment of sadness, but it quickly gave in to typical Arthur stuffiness. "Well I shall exercise the better part of valour and leave them to it… if they are so eager to spend their blasted time in each other's infuriating company-"

"_Is Arthur jealous of them? Is he jealous of Ludwig and Gilbert?" _

Arthur heard Rhys' voice in his head, whisper, just for a moment.

"_I think he is!" _A fairy giggled, replying to Rhys' comment.

"Shut up you lot! I'm not jealous… why would I be jealous of having Gilbert's idiotic company?" Arthur muttered to himself, his brother and his fairy friends.

"_Because we can tell master… It mustn't be nice to be Mr unpopular…" _the fairy added.

"It's hardly a surprise." Arthur snapped.

"_No… it's not a surprise… but that doesn't make it any less upsetting for you." _Rhys replied.

"I'm certainly not upset if that's what you're implying." Arthur said.

Just as Rhys had predicted, the more Arthur was around the dagger, the more his sixth sense triggered. He barely noticed the outside world whilst he spoke to his brother. Alfred looked rather bemused by Arthur's conversation with nobody and went back to his conversation with Matthew, but it seemed Matthew had noticed too.

"…Arthur…is talking to himself right? He isn't talking to us is he?" Matthew asked. "I'm not entirely sure… he isn't usually so… _publicly…_ weird."

"Na… this isn't normal Arthur behaviour… he usually only does this in private…" Alfred looked puzzled as Arthur whispered to himself.

"Hey…Arthur?... What the heck are you doing?" Matthew enquired.

Arthur was horrified that he had started even talking in public. "Nothing… nothing at all…" he said with a stammer and then gripped his cane tightly and changed the subject completely. "Francis, stop sauntering like a fashion model and have a bit of urgency!"

"But I must always be like a fashion model, mon ami!... besides…we are here!" he showed the others in a waited for Arthur to come close to the door and whispered. "You were a little spaced out back there Arthur… something wrong?"

"I…It's just…" He looked at Francis warily. "Nothing Francis… I don't care for your gossip mongering… and I know anything I say will be used against me another time…"

"Oh my dear Arthur! You think so little of me!" Francis offered the door to Arthur, who walked through, paranoid that he'd already said something that Francis had picked up and would use at a later date.

The group were seated quickly and Arthur went into a full account of what had happened, before Gilbert could open his big mouth and start a completely irrelevant conversation.

Alfred had been uncharacteristically quiet for a considerable period of time now, ever since they'd entered the café he hadn't said a word. He felt tense, the dagger was so close, and he wondered if anyone had noticed how nervous he had become. He was trying to fight it, but he couldn't stop staring at Veneziano. He could feel the dagger's presence in his mind. Strange, uncharacteristic thoughts ran through his mind, he should take the dagger now, he should take it and get away from the others… then he could get away…and do what he…_really _wanted to do. The more he tried to ignore it, the more conscious he became of his pathetic attempt to distract himself. Matthew was apparently listening to Arthur, and hadn't noticed his brother's strange behaviour. He was cracking up, he could feel his own thoughts becoming twisted, he wanted to speak… he wanted to ask Arthur for help, but at the same time, his pride stopped him. He prayed that the strange thoughts would pass and he would return to normal soon.

"Now… you gentlemen are all aware of what is at stake… we are in a grave amount of danger, and we must proceed with great caution… now on the way here… I have devised a plan of what we need to do and how we will do it-" Arthur had gotten carried away with his position of power and had taken America's quietness as a blessing.

"-Arthur you shouldn't make all the decisions on your own-" Ludwig interrupted, but just as quickly as he cut in, Arthur rebuked.

"Are you an expert in magic? No I didn't think so… so shut up… You've interrupted me once today already, do it again and I will be extremely cross…"

"Don't patronise me." Ludwig muttered, folding his arms.

"Don't interrupt me… and I won't patronise you… so-" Arthur continued, without even drawing breath. "I require certain things from certain people… I need to know where you are staying…and I need to explain your roles…I won't tolerate any nonsense if you talk or mess around I will become terribly irate and may curse you… does anyone have any questions?-"

Alfred raised his hand slowly.

"Yes Alfred." Arthur said, trying not to reel in delight of ripping Ludwig twice in a row, it made up for the humiliation Ludwig had caused him previously.

"My arm is getting numb… I'm scared…" he slowly lifted up his sleeve to reveal the mark growing up his arm. "Am I getting worse?"

Veneziano made a quiet warbling noise that suggested he was scared of Alfred. Ludwig tried to look as if he wasn't bothered, but it was obvious that his own problems with the dagger had put the fear in him, and he became nervous at the mark. Gilbert's jaw dropped.

"Mein Gott! That's…" Gilbert began, Matthew gave him a pleading look, as if begging him not to make a big deal of the mark. "…I don't know…Arthur?"Gilbert swallowed his previous comment of _'JESUS CHRIST! THAT LOOKS LIKE YOUR GOING TO GET POSSESSED IN NO TIME, WE BETTER HURRY'_.

"It…it's hard to say…Perhaps proximity to the dagger is a catalyst for growth…" Arthur struggled to say something that wouldn't petrify him. "Perhaps it would be better if… you and Matthew… went and had a walk on the promenade for now… I can talk with Ludwig and Veneziano, they can go… and then you can come back when they are done…"

"Oh…Okay." Matthew said. "Can I leave all my bags here?"

"Of course." Francis smiled, trying to put Veneziano at ease. "I'll keep an eye on them."

Matthew led his brother out of the café quickly, as soon as they left the building Alfred winced and clasped his arm, sliding to the floor. "Jesus Matthew…I... can't…stop it- it's got me-"

"…" Matthew pulled his sleeve down. "Listen bro… you can't bail on me… we've just left Arthur… if you lose it now… we're all gonna be screwed… show me all that American gusto… I know you can… how about… I take you to your hotel? You can have a sleep there… " I'm just going to get a map from the kiosk just there… don't worry… You'll be able to see me from here." Matthew was reluctant to leave him, even for a moment. But he had to get his bearings, he had no idea where he was in relation to anything else in the city.

"…." Alfred didn't speak and alarm bells began to ring in his own head. He'd been in the dagger's presence for too long and something in his mind snapped. The worry…seemed to leave him. It was easier for him to submit to this thing in his head than fight it. He could feel the mark growing…and growing, like a snake crawling inside his skin, but his alarm and determination to fight it had been replaced with a feeling of resignation and terrible thoughts about world conquest. His last thought before the dagger warped his mind completely was _'I hope…Arthur and the others… can stop this thing… no…stop…me-'_

Alfred suddenly jolted on the spot. His eyes became blank and his lips curled into a strange smile. Matthew was unfortunately not gifted with a supernatural 6th sense and walked back just moments after this strange series of events transpired. His 'gut' feeling that Alfred didn't look like his usual self, was thrown off by his inability to comprehend his brother as a force of evil and the intense feeling of worry that was caused by him caring for Alfred alone. Why on earth did Arthur tell _them_ to leave the cafe? Surely he could have told Ludwig and Veneziano to go for a walk or something? Maybe it was some friend mongering manoeuvre to appease Arthur's selfish desire to be popular in Europe.

As Matthew brooded angrily on this, he barely noticed Alfred submit to the dagger's influence. "Come on then… just give me your booking… I'll take care of the rest."

"Take care of the rest for me?...Yeah… that sounds great Mattie… I'll stay here… and you go and sort things out for me…that'd be…just great." He patted his brother on the shoulder and then slowly looked in his own bag, with an odd wooden smile on his face. "You know… I'd be a mess without you Matthew… you're so good at… taking care of me." Alfred continued with his slightly wooden smile that lacked it's usual warmth. He fished out his hotel confirmation, his passport and his credit card.

"Won't you need to come with me?" Matthew said cluelessly.

"Oh… I'll catch up… I just need to… calm down a little…that's all." Alfred said, "Now go on." He encouraged Matthew to leave him.

"See you in a bit bro!" Matthew said, waving.

"Bye bye brother." Alfred said, his wooden smiled turn into a dark sneer as soon as his brother walked away.

Matthew walked down the road and frowned. How strange, Alfred never usually sounded so serious.


	15. Chapter 15

Hiiiii everyone! I'm updating again! I have a new job though… so the updates might be a little…sporadic… and might take longer than usual ;_;… I'll be travelling a lot so T_T waaaaaaaaaaaa. BUT DON'T WORRY! I WON'T STOP WRITINGTHIS STORY UNTIL THE END. Sorry it's an unusually long chapter, but I needed to put this bit at the end Enjoy, thank you for reading despite my terrible spelling/grammar.

_Yes I know… What was I thinking you ask? Leaving Alfred on his own like that? Okay… So it was a little short sighted. But can you blame me for wanting to see the best in my brother? As it happens, it's this kind of behaviour that makes me a good brother (if not a little naive)… Arthur had never been that angry when I had done stupid things when I was a child, providing that I had done it out of consideration for Alfred. I had found this strange considering how irritable Arthur was, but I was about to discover why this was the case…_

Matthew tried not to let his suspicions get the better of him as he walked down the road. His brother seemed _a little _strange before he left him, but not enough to cause Matthew to worry…

Well not at the time, but now he was becoming terribly anxious and concluded that leaving his brother may have been a poor decision. But he had already set off to the hotel, there was no way he was going to go back to see Alfred, (who was probably perfectly fine anyway… think happy thoughts).

He didn't want to seem too edgy as he went to the reception of the hotel, and tried to show off his best smile. "Oh hello!" He said to the gentleman behind the desk. He put the passport, credit card and booking down

"Hello Sir." The man replied. "How are you today?"

"Oh I'm just fine… could you-?", he then paused and bent down to get his phone out of his bag as it started to ring. "Sorry give me one minute."

"No problem Sir." The receptionist replied. "I'll just start the process." He said as Matthew nodded, only half listening to what he'd said.

Matthew looked at the phone, Arthur was calling. He was very _tempted_ to ignore the call, as he was still angry about Arthur's decision to send him and Alfred out of the café and into the streets of Paris as he paid lip service to the other European nations. But in light of the current situation he exercised the better part of valour and picked up the phone.

"Hi Arthur…what's up?" Matthew said, trying to sound as cool and nonchalant as possible.

"Matthew… I felt something strange… a surge in the dagger's presence…is Alfred alright?" Arthur asked brusquely, it was obvious that his talks with the others were both frustrating and fruitless.

"Yeah he's fine, I'm just checking into the hotel now." Matthew said, trying to sound as self-sufficient as possible.

"You're with him _aren't_ you?" Arthur asked, suspicious of Matthew's 'cool' demeanour.

Matthew could tell by Arthur's tone that if he said 'no' he'd get a lecture. After a long pause he answered "…Yeah…"

"You're a terrible liar." Arthur snapped. "And an idiot sometimes…"

"I know where he is." Matthew replied indignantly. But, his voice was giving way to fright and worry. His 'tough' façade melted in just a few minutes.

"Good grief Matthew!" Arthur's voice distorted down the phone as he screeched. "I've tried to call him and he won't pick up his phone! NOW GO AND FIND HIM AND TELL ME HE'S ALRIGHT!"

"Yeah yeah… I will…" Matthew's heart started beating incredibly fast. "He had been acting a little strangely before I left." As if telling Arthur the situation might stop him from being as angry about him.

"And… you decided to leave him? Good grief!" Arthur's voice began to crack with frustration.

"I just wanted to be helpful." Matthew stammered, trying to excuse his neglect.

"GO TO HIM…RIGHT NOW!" Arthur snarled down the phone.

"…I'll call you back in a few minutes." Matthew put the phone down swiftly. Now he was angry with himself for being so naïve, because if Arthur was right and Alfred had taken a turn for the worst, then it was entirely his fault. He went back to the reception and the man smiled and handed the information back.

"I've booked you in Mister Jones… though you're hair has changed since your photo… Growing it out maybe?" He said with a smile. It was obvious that he had confused Matthew for Alfred.

"No, don't be silly I'm not Alfred-" Matthew smiled at first. "I think you're confused…that's my…brother…" He said, "We just look similar…"

"Are you twins?" She asked. "You do look exactly the same…"

"Oh I know people always mix us up…"

"Oh I'm so sorry Sir… But I'll need to see your brother and book him in, in person… we shouldn't really book people in without them being here… it's just you look so similar… I was sure you were him."

Then Matthew's eyes widened.

Alfred had let Matthew go for him. He'd sent Matthew away on purpose, to buy time. He could have been far away by now, knowing that there would probably be a mix up in their identities in the hotel. "Wait a minute…No no no no no no no-" He then ran, realizing that Alfred wasn't as 'alright' at all.

As Arthur was on the phone, Ludwig had been distracting himself with his phone handset too, not talking to anyone, simply checking through his diary, texting, writing notes. Anything to distract himself from the incessant noise coming from the dagger, and he did ignore it for the most part, but there was something it said that got through to him.

'_Don't you want to know why Arthur is so eager to get rid of me?'_

This worried Ludwig on two accounts. Firstly, the dagger was using a pronoun, a way to speak of itself, which meant it had a consciousness... which meant it was _alive _somehow, or had been once upon a time. Secondly, what it said intrigued him, Of course the reason was obvious, Arthur didn't want the world to end, but why single out _Arthur? _What made it pick _Arthur?_

'_That moronic Brit' as you called him before.'_

If Ludwig wasn't so disciplined, he would have asked the dagger how it could have possibly known that he'd said that, or asked whether it had caused him to say such an uncharacteristic thing in the first place. But Ludwig was a master of discipline, if he could maintain a silence with it, then he couldn't possibly fall prey to it's goading. So that's what he would do.

'_You're strong Ludwig… much more intelligent than that American… I suppose you are wondering what I've done to him aren't you? Well it's too late for him, he's mine already… you could tell your friends and they could help, but if you do that, then they'll know that I'm talking to you, they'll start to suspect you. You're weakness will be revealed to them.'_

He had had enough, sitting next to Veneziano, whose hands were doing of his talking for him was frustrating enough but the dagger talking to him as well made him so perturbed that he could no longer sit and listen to it. He made an excuse to go and 'freshen up'. Veneziano smiled at him, asking if he was okay. Ludwig nodded rather weakly and replied. "Yes… just a little…troubled."

This seemed like a satisfactory answer for Veneziano who nodded and said something to the tune of 'don't be too long in there!'.

Ludwig had barely heard this comment as he walked to the bathroom. He went to the nearest sink and almost fell upon it, clutching the basin with his hands. The voice seemed to have subdued and was gone from his head. He tried to make a logical list of things that had happened since this whole terrible experience had started.

He hadn't been himself… ever since he'd seen Italy with that satchel bag, he'd felt different somehow, he was…scared? Maybe that was it. The end of the world didn't scare him in this instance, no, it was the fear that the dagger would somehow be able to brainwash him with ridiculous lies that put the fear in him. He felt vulnerable, something he'd hadn't experienced before. In the past he'd felt defeated at times, even hopeless, but not… weak or susceptible to suggestion.

And he could see the signs of his old paranoid behaviour kicking in. Acting defensively, being hypercritical and irate at almost everything, and for some reason he couldn't place, he felt a strong resentment towards Arthur. He couldn't comprehend it, he didn't have a problem with him usually, he'd even go as far to say that the two of them shared some similarities in terms of outlook and caution. But for some reason, everything he did annoyed him. The way he manipulated Gilbert, his brother grated against Ludwig, in a way he couldn't describe. What the dagger said was aggravating him even further, did Arthur have some other motive that he wasn't telling the others? Was this a well constructed ploy to claim the dagger's power?

"It's so…irrational… for me to think like this- So… strange-" He murmured to himself. He splashed water on his face to try and calm himself down. His breath became tighter and faster, as his dilemma played on his mind.

He couldn't leave Veneziano alone, but it was becoming difficult for him to stay with him now. That dagger must have been causing his strange behaviour, exasperating his frustration and anger at imperfection and things he didn't agree with, thus causing him to display his more extreme tendencies.

Thank goodness no one was in the bathroom in him. The last thing he needed was someone seeing his lack of composure. Unfortunately, that was ruined in a moment.

"Hey brother! Are you alright? Came in to check on-"

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO CHECK ON ME!" Ludwig slammed on the basin. This caused Gilbert to jump back in surprise. Ludwig slowly turned his head around. "I…I'm fine." His voice sounded embarrassed, as if his own outburst troubled him.

"Ludwig…come on… Is something wrong with you?" Gilbert said, approaching his brother, not frightened by his brother at all.

"NO!" He shouted, but then sighed deeply and shook his head. "I…I am on edge…what with the end of world on the doorstep based on what Arthur says… isn't it natural for me to be tense?" Ludwig now began to play on the defensive. He tried to sweep the water off his face and went for a paper towel to dry himself off.

"Aber…natürlich…" Gilbert began. "For most people that is… but not you, West…" Gilbert peered at his brother. "The one thing I've always admired about you… is your strength…and your- I don't know…fearlessness. You're a strong guy, you don't usually let these kind of things bother you. So the fact you're so uneasy, makes me uneasy."

"And you! Back from the abyss! Waltzing around as if it had never happened!" Ludwig made a despairing noise "Things are so… unnatural! It's all chaotic… there's no order…"

"And you can't stand that can you?" Gilbert said, trying to be a nice big brother and not patronise his brother. "Things you don't understand."

Ludwig's hand went to his face. Which Gilbert knew as a nervous tick that his brother would perform when someone had found one of his weakness'. Gilbert wanted to lighten the mood and stop his brother from worrying so he smirked and rubbed his brother on the head, messing up his perfectly coiffed hair. "Don't worry little bro! You're awesome big brother will look after you! Kesesesesese!"

"Do you want me to suplex you?" Ludwig's eyes narrowed.

"Well… it'd be nostalgic." Gilbert grinned.

Ludwig shook his head, but Gilbert could tell, he'd cheered his brother up slightly.

"The severity of the situation…and that damn dagger…" Ludwig's shoulder drooped, as if he was a little more relaxed. "I'm going to tell you something that you cannot tell anyone else… not even Arthur… not even if he asks…Alright?"

"I don't know if I can… you know… not tell him stuff… he might order me to." Gilbert started.

"He won't ask… but I just need you to promise me that you won't tell him what I'm about to tell you." Ludwig said.

"Shoot West." Gilbert said, effectively agreeing to what Ludwig asked.

"You're going to think I'm insane…but I've been able to hear that dagger… _talking_ to me, it whispers to me, trying to persuade me to take it away, and-" Ludwig stopped suddenly.

"And what?" Gilbert hinted for an expansion.

"-to do things with it." Ludwig said in a very unhelpful and vague way, that frustrated Gilbert.

"Like what?" Gilbert frowned slightly, worried by his brother's reluctance to be clear-cut.

"-Things that are strange, inappropriate and atypical." He replied. "I don't wish to go into detail, because you'll…think badly of me."

"West, I need to know." Gilbert pressured his brother.

"I want to stop Arthur… from controlling you." Ludwig said finally. "I want to stop him, from acting him arrogantly, so pompously…the way he treats you… it's irritating and, there's something about him and that dagger, something he isn't telling us."

"Eh?" Gilbert paused. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know… I kind of get the feeling…that he had some kind of… I don't know… link with it. I can't explain it, but it hinted about Arthur."

"That's…weird…" Gilbert said, "But I'm sure that's just because it's scared of Arthur the most, after all, he's the one who can stop it. So naturally it'd want you to be suspicious of him…I think that's the smartest thing I've ever said."

"Mmmm…perhaps you're right." Ludwig conceded.

"Having a nice natter gentleman? This is like some mother's meeting!" Arthur pushed the door open. It seemed that (much to Gilbert and Ludwig's relief) Arthur had not heard them speaking about him. "I have no idea what would engross you enough to deprive Veneziano and Francis from your delightful company." He drawled sarcastically. "Now if you'd be so kind as to allow me some privacy I would like to make a phone call in private."

"Yes well…come on West, let's give Arthur a minute." Gilbert said, trying to accommodate both of them.

"Who are you calling that you don't want us to know about?" Ludwig's unsubtle attempt of fact finding made Gilbert roll his eyes.

"Oh so you want to be a spectator to a call between me and my brother Patrick? Please… feel free." Arthur mumbled angrily as he typed into his phone and held it against his ear.

As Gilbert and Ludwig walked out, he took the phone away from his ear. He hadn't called any number. He looked into the mirror. "…Rhys…"

"_Oh Arthur! This is a first! You want to talk to me? I'm honoured!"_

"This is serious Rhys…"

"_I'm all ears…little brother."_

Whatever the darkness had done to Alfred, it had also decided that he should act like a relatively normal person, unlike the last time it took over him. He walked down the street with little difficulty, he seemed to have an unmoving grin on his face, as if he had a private in-joke with himself that the rest of the world wasn't privy to. The mark had now reached his neck and was slowly creeping up to the edge of his shoulder, but whereas the sensation had previously scared him. He actually liked the feeling as it grew. It made him smile and gave him intense pleasure that the influence was obliterating the guilt he may have felt if he did anything horrible.

He had strange things and thoughts in his head, things he could remember… that he had never known before. Not memories, not as clear as that, but unusual instincts that were dictating his sense of direction. As if something were leading him down certain roads and street. It was a strange experience, but he wasn't overly distressed by this. He kept thinking of the same place. _Place Denfert-Rochereau_, he had to get there, there was an entrance… to some mines… There was a cavern that contained something that he needed. Rather than scared by his newly acquired sense of direction, he was more amused by the pickpocket come mugger who had been following him down the abandoned street he was walking down. It was as if he didn't care. A higher purpose was guiding his actions now and a little human was inconsequential to his new plan to rule everything.

"You've been following me for sometime buddy." Alfred said, still with his strange grin that was far too calm considering the situation he was in. "You want to ask me something?" He didn't sound too different than he usually did, except there was an odd coolness to his delivery, and a cockiness in his voice that the mugger didn't seem to like.

The man was young, probably only 19. He instantly pulled out a gun and spoke in garbled English. "You…give money…American dumbass…"

"What? You want my money?" Alfred didn't seem at all intimidated by this gun, he even laughed at the boy's ridiculous demand. A human boy… hiding behind a 7mm pistol. "Sure thing… I'll even ignore the fact you called me a dumbass-" Alfred threw his wallet on the floor between the two of them and smirked as he put his hands in the air, feigning co-operation. The boy fell to his knees and scrambled for the wallet, which he did whilst keeping his gun trained on Alfred. "Shame though, there isn't much in there… bit of a waste."

"... MP3…Camera." The boy motioned with his gun for Alfred to drop them to the floor.

"Well... you're getting greedy aren't you? Isn't enough that you have my Amex and my cash?" he ran his fingers through his hair. "Then again… you don't really know what I'm saying do you?"

The man cocked his gun back and aimed. He began to yell in French. Alfred rather strangely, walked towards the boy, rather than backing away.

"But really… do you think I'm scared of you kid? Please… don't screw with me." Alfred said, taking slow deliberate steps. "You're just some little human tramp, scowering the ground for cheap shit, my ambitions are much bigger-"

The boy stopped yelling for a moment and put his finger on the trigger as if he was about to shoot. This caused Alfred to stop laughing, but he didn't stop walking towards the boy. "I don't respond well to threats either…"

The boy then looked nervous, as if he had made a gross error in his judgement, he was about to put the gun down and run away when he realized that the American he'd cornered wasn't the one in danger, he was in fact the dangerous one of the two of them. The boy tried to make a dash, when Alfred grasped him by the jacket, the boy couldn't struggle free, even though he tried. Alfred's grip was a dead weight. He had no chance of getting away.

"I can tell when someone has it in them to shoot a gun…and kill a man… and I don't think you're one of those people… you're not even part of a gang… let me see." Alfred inspected the boy, who held the gun. But there was something extremely unnerving about Alfred now, he carried an unusually heavy atmosphere, with an odd whimsicalness about him. It was causing the boy to panic and squirm. This made Alfred tighten his grip, the boy stopped accordingly. "Gun crime is pretty rare in Paris… how did you get a gun? It's only a little thing anyway… a tiny pistol… I'm guessing you've stolen this from a store." Alfred walked until he had backed the boy into a wall. The gun was now almost digging into Alfred's neck. "You won't miss at this range… go on… shoot me… I dare you." Alfred pulled the gun's barrel so it was aimed up, at his chin. "I'm even standing still for you... you'll blast my brains out and kill me dead-"

The warped grin on his face made the boy colourless and inexplicably petrified. He dropped the gun.

"There's a good kid." Alfred said, with a cracked smile. Easing his grip on the boy and brushing him down "Now run along… You've reminded me of something very important… "

The boy took this opportunity to make as much distance between him and Alfred as possible, not even stopping for his belongings.

"When I rule everything… Everyone is going to speak English…" he said, picking his belongings off the ground, and adding the gun to his collection of personal effects. He cocked it back and grinned at the sight of the bullets in the magazine. "Now… on to _Denfert-Rochereau."_


End file.
